One area of reptile keeping that has been severely overlooked is the correct provision of UV lighting for snakes, and especially those living in larger more naturalistic or bioactive enclosures. The 8watt 12”/30cm ShadeDweller caters well for smaller species and for snakes whilst coiled at basking, but it became clear very quickly that the most commonly kept species being 3’/90cm in length or more would benefit more with exposure that covers much more of the body, and within the light and shade method.

Being longer and in the case of Royal/Ball pythons, more robust also, it is important to increase the size of area of illumination (projection zone), allow good photo and thermoregulation, which helps to ensure access to full colour vision and the ability to self-regulate D3 levels. This will allow snakes to move and behave naturally, seeking out areas of energy to use and to explore without the risk of them being exposed to higher levels of UV than is safe for them. This is a risk with the more powerful HO-T5 lamps when used in reduced height enclosures and with species that can easily climb.

ShadeDweller-Max has been crafted by experts to provide optimal UV levels of around UVI 1.00-1.50 12/30 at basking for these species when living in enclosures 3’/90cm long or more. It is the perfect lamp for the most common vivarium sizes, that being 4x2x2/120cmx60cmx60cm +.

ShadeDweller-Max is the perfect choice for these species where an environment has been created to allow self-regulated basking, but also poses very little risk of over exposure as the snake moves around the enclosure (transient exposure). We all know that most snakes love to climb, and we should allow this wherever possible to increase enrichment of the body and mind and to allow the animal to experience light at differing angles. ShadeDweller-Max 14w ProT5 is suitable for use with Arcadia Reptile LampGuardPro, the easy to use UV lamp cage.

SD-Max has been designed with the needs of captive snakes in mind, but this should not limit its use, it is just as much a powerful tool for some lizards and amphibians living in larger enclosures that fall into Zone 1-2 and are able to safely climb to self-regulate.

ShadeDweller-Max arrives complete within the ShadeDweller-Max ProT5 fitting which as always allows easy linking to other ProT5 fittings and JungleDawn-LED Bar. These fittings are tuned to Arcadia Reptile German made lamps, are flicker free, quick start and complete with plenty of internal electronic protection. ShadeDweller-Max is a SO-T5 lamp and as with all Arcadia Reptile lamps has a full 12 month UV potency, when used for up to 12 hours a day and with Arcadia Reptile fitting.

Using the very latest in German lamp technology we have created yet another brand new lamp for reptiles in SO-T5 that draws just 14watts but is over twice as bright as our 8w ShadeDweller lamp. This increase in brightness or ‘lumen output’ includes the whole spectrum of the lamp, even UV. As such to hit the target UVI of 1.00-1.50 at 12”/30 to basking, this clever lamp only requires 2.5% UV-B within the total spectrum of the lamp. So, if you were wondering why the ShadeDweller 8w lamp has 7% UV-B and ShadeDweller-Max only 2.5% UV-B, to achieve a very similar result, then this is your answer, the lamp itself is more powerful over the whole spectrum of the lamp, so to reach optimal UVI at the target distance the % if UV-B is reduced, the resulting UVI however is very similar in both cases.

ShadeDweller-Max is suitable for use with almost all species of snake within their own UVI requirements and distance to basking. Please check our ‘lighting guide’ for more detail. ShadeDweller-Max is suitable for use with Royal/ball pythons and other pythons species, corn snakes, king snakes, milk snakes, rat snakes and other colubrid’s, garter snakes, hognose snakes, Boas, mangrove snakes etc etc.