Like many reptiles, snakes love basking in the sun for as long as possible during the day. It may seem ordinary, especially for diurnal ones, but the rays are much more functional than just brightening their path.
Snakes need sunlight for the heat to maintain body temperature. However, any source of significant warmth can be adequate. Without warmth, their already-slow metabolism will become even slower, making it difficult to perform regular daily activities. In severe cases, they may die.
I will discuss snakes, and their sunlight needs more in this article, so continue reading to learn their other uses for the sun, alternatives, and their attraction to light.
Are Snakes Attracted to Light?
Snakes may be intriguing for several reasons, like their scales’ brilliance or feeding habits, but their vision techniques are also unique. Their “poor” eyesight is still beneficial to living and competing in the ecosystem.
Snakes are attracted to light because their prey is attracted to light. Lights naturally lure insects, which then attract amphibians & fish, hoping to prey on the arthropods. In turn, snakes hunt such animals for their diet, bringing them closer to the light, especially at night.
They detect prey close to a light source through chemical signals with their tongues. Rodents and other prey give off scents, which allure snakes to trail them for consumption.
During the day, the sun’s heat is more desirable to snakes than the light, being cold-blooded creatures. When it becomes too hot, they even search for shady shelters or underground holes to escape.
That means that they aren’t the most “light-desiring” animals because they don’t have any direct use for it. If you’re setting up a habitat for them, you may consider using heat sources rather than light sources for their tanks.
How Snakes Detect Light
Snakes can still sense light when available despite not seemingly requiring or looking for it.
Like similar species, they all have eyes, but each species’ mode of function depends on its lifestyle. The sensory part of their eyes has numerous rods and cones, while their pigments sense colors in different wavelengths, enabling them to understand the environment.
So whenever a light source is active and in their range of vision, the retina is activated, sending signals to the brain.
The snakes react to the glow by fleeing the area when it feels threatened or moving closer to find potential prey. Unlike humans, who can see three primary colors, snakes are dichromatic, meaning they can only see two during the day. However, some species’ vision is better during darker conditions.
Their eye lens allows UV-light passage to the retina with pigments that are also sensitive to it. Nocturnal ones like the Ball Python are examples.
Snakes’ Alternative Heat Sources to Sunlight
When there are significant thermal changes in the atmosphere, birds and mammals adjust their body temperature in various ways. It ensures routine metabolic processes don’t stop, which aids their survival.
However, snakes don’t have that ability. They depend on the environment for temperature regulation, which is sufficient since their metabolism is relatively low.
One such environmental factor with the most impact is sunlight.
They need the sun’s heat and not light to achieve optimal body temperatures for essential body processes. If not, the slow metabolism will manifest in their day-to-day activities as sluggishness.
Undeniably, snakes expose themselves to the sun during the day to get all the heat needed. However, there are other heat mediums snakes explore, especially at night.
Snakes Seek Artificial Heat Sources
As most pet snake owners have explored, any fabricated heat source can be adequate for the reptiles to survive, such as:
- Thermostat heaters
- Heat lamps
- Electric light bulbs
- Campfires
- Fireplaces
- Heat mats
Even wild snakes probe human shelters for warmth during cold nights. They enter walls, ceilings, or any hole to spend the night.
Snakes Find Heat Under Hot Rocks & Logs
During the day, the sun warms up heat-retaining objects, including rocks, enough for snakes to “borrow” the heat at night. The snakes curl under them immediately after sunset, hoping to achieve the desired temperature.
This method is prevalent among nocturnal reptiles, who rarely have the opportunity to enjoy the sunlight. Without the warmth, they can’t hunt efficiently, which is detrimental to their survival.
Conclusion
Snakes don’t need sunlight as much as they need solar heat. Without the heat, their metabolism slows down, significantly affecting their lifestyle. They will remain sluggish without the energy to hunt, culminating in starvation and death.
On the other hand, some species are nocturnal and don’t need light from the sun. Solar heat isn’t their only source of warmth, as they use artificial heat-emitting bodies such as thermostat heaters, fireplaces, and heat lamps.
Although wild snakes can also track human dwellings for such heat sources, they primarily absorb heat from rocks heated during the day.