Lighting in the Terrarium

As cold-blooded animals, terrarium animals are far more de pendent on light, i.e. the quality and intensity of light, than warm-blooded vertebrates. Activity, feeding, digestion or resting phases are influenced by the alternation of day and night, and especially by the intensity of light. Besides this, many terrarium animals associate light with heat and seek light places in the terrarium in order to „bask in the sun“. These considerations are especially important when choosing heating equipment for desert terrariums.

There are differences in the yield and quality of light, depending on the light source used. Fluorescent tubes, for example, provide a lot of light with little heat production, whereas light bulbs convert a major share of the energy taken up into heat and only a small share into light. The question as to which quality of light is best suited for a specific terrarium is easy to answer if we take a look at nature: For millions of years, plants and animals have been adapting to what the sun sends down to the earth in a long evolutionary process. If we look at the spectrum of sunlight (meaning the part of solar radiation that is visible to us), we recognise a very even distribution of all spectral colours. For this reason, lamps for terrariums should have a spectrum that is as close to being balanced and without gaps as possible. At the same time, all of the plants and animals will be able to exhibit their full natural brilliant colouring.

Metal halide lamps ( Daylight with UV-B ) are the top choice for animals requiring sunlight, ultraviolet light (i.e. diurnal animals) and heat. They offer a full spectrum that is sunlight simulating, including UV-A and B radiation, along with heat emission for the terrarium. Accordingly, the temperature in the terrarium decreases after the lamps are switched off, thereby simulating the desired night-time drop in temperature. The JBL L-U-W lamps are available in three different wattages and two versions, depending on whether the animals require a lot of UV ( JBL ReptilDesert L-U-W Light alu (Special lamp for use in reptile keeping! Not suitable for other applications! No EEK label required. Exemption according to (EU) 2019/2015 Annex IV 3. c) UV radiation > 2mW/klm) ) or less UV ( JBL ReptilJungle L-U-W Light alu (Special lamp for use in reptile keeping! Not suitable for other applications! No EEK label required. Exemption according to (EU) 2019/2015 Annex IV 3. c) UV radiation > 2mW/klm) ).

The fluorescent tubes sold by JBL are also so-called full-spectrum tubes and come in two different versions for terrariums: JBL SOLAR REPTIL SUN T8 and JBL SOLAR REPTIL JUNGLE T8 .

UV-light, specifically in the UV-A and UV-B ranges, also plays a significant role in terrarium lighting. Depending on their origin, terrarium animals require more UV light or less for their well-being. UV-B stimulates Vitamin D3 synthesis from the Vitamin D2 precursor. UV-A stimulates pigmentation. It is important to take into account that the glass absorbs around 50 % of the UV radiation, so that the lamps should always be installed inside the terrarium. The distance between the light source and the animal is another important factor: There is information directly on the lamp indicating how much radiation is emitted at which distance from the lamp. If the terrarium is high, the animals can get closer to their UV source if they are provided with something to climb up on.

The following applies to animals that require UV: These animals will not stay healthy if fluorescent tubes are used, even if they emit UV radiation! It is imperative for a UV spot lamp or an L-U-W lamp to be mounted additionally. When using metal halide lamps, one must also bear in mind that they may/can only be operated with special electronic ballasts ( JBL TempSet Unit L-U-W ).

© 22.06.2017
Heiko Blessin
Heiko Blessin
Dipl.-Biologe

Tauchen, Fotografie, Aquaristik, Haie, Motorrad

Comments

A word about cookies before we continue

The JBL Homepage also uses several types of cookies to provide you with full functionality and many services: We require technical and functional cookies to ensure that everything works when you visit this website. We also use cookies for marketing purposes. This ensures that we recognise you when you visit our extensive site again, that we can measure the success of our campaigns and that the personalisation cookies allow us to address you individually and directly, adapted to your needs - even outside our website. You can determine at any time - even at a later date - which cookies you allow and which you do not allow (more on this under "Change settings").

The JBL website uses several types of cookies to provide you with full functionality and many services: Technical and functional cookies are absolutely necessary so that everything works when you visit this website. In addition, we use cookies for marketing purposes. You can determine at any time - even at a later date - which cookies you allow and which you do not (more on this under "Change settings").

Our data protection declaration tells you how we process personal data and what purposes we use the data processing for. tells you how we process personal data and what purposes we use the data processing for. Please confirm the use of all cookies by clicking "Accept" - and you're on your way.

Are you over 16 years old? Then confirm the use of all cookies with "Noticed" and you are ready to go.

Choose your cookie settings

Technical and functional cookies, so that everything works when you visit our website.
Marketing cookies, so that we recognize you on our pages and can measure the success of our campaigns.
I accept the YouTube Terms of Service and confirm that I have read and understood the YouTube Terms of Service .

PUSH messages from JBL

What are PUSH messages? As part of the W3C standard, web notifications define an API for end-user notifications that are sent to the user's desktop and/or mobile devices via the browser. Notifications appear on the end devices as they are familiar to the end user from apps installed on the device (e.g. emails). Notifications appear on the end user’s device, just like an app (e.g. for emails) installed on the device.

These notifications enable a website operator to contact its users whenever they have a browser open - it doesn’t matter whether the user is currently visiting the website or not.

To be able to send web push notifications, all you need is a website with a web push code installed. This allows brands without apps to take advantage of many of the benefits of push notifications (personalised real-time communications at just the right moment).

Web notifications are part of the W3C standard and define an API for end user notifications. A notification makes it possible to inform the user about an event, such as a new blog post, outside the context of a website.

JBL GmbH & Co. KG provides this service free of charge, and it is easy to activate or deactivate.