UVA Rays And Your
Reptile's Vision

UVA Rays: Reptiles see a different world than we do. We have three colour receptors, but reptiles have four. They can see not only what we call "visible" light, but they can also see past the purple end into the next category, which we call Ultra Violet A, or UVA.

Just because we can't see it we tend to forget about it. But it's really important to reptiles.

UVA Makes A Brighter World

For them, missing out on UVA light makes their whole world drab and dull.

Imagine seeing only the red through to green part of the visible spectrum. That means all the blue and purple would not exist; they would be in the "past visible" range. Here is a picture with the blue removed for comparison:

Reptiles Need UVA Light

Reptiles use UVA and the rest of the visible spectrum to see each other, detect motion and decide what's good to eat and what's not.

Lighting that includes UVA will improve it's quality of life. Good quality UV lamps are reasonably priced. When you're looking into buying a UV bulb, make sure it also covers the UVB part of the spectrum.