A new way to think about lighting........

Vision LED Logo

Introducing the Sol Reptile VisionLED, a groundbreaking innovation in reptile lighting that redefines what’s possible for your pet’s environment. For the first time, reptiles can experience truly white light, thanks to a meticulously engineered LED lamp that combines high-performance white diodes with UVA-specific diodes driven by a proprietary custom-engineered driver tailored to their unique vision needs. This hand-crafted, USA-made product not only mimics the color temperature of natural sunlight but also enhances visibility and well-being in ways never seen before in the pet care market. Step into a new era of reptile care—because your animals deserve nothing less than brilliance.

Read the full report by Thomas Griffiths at Tomaskas LTD here.

Photo Excitation Comparison

Just a few reasons why UVA is important for your animals:

  • Enhanced Color Vision: Many reptiles and birds possess a fourth photoreceptor cone sensitive to UVA light, allowing them to perceive a broader and more vivid spectrum of colors than humans. This aids in recognizing mates, food, and environmental cues.
  • Naturalistic Lighting: UVA contributes to replicating sunlight’s natural spectrum. Without UVA, artificial lighting may appear unnaturally colored to reptiles, potentially affecting their behavior and well-being.
  • Behavioral Significance: UVA light plays a critical role in communication and signaling for many species. For example, reptiles use color changes influenced by UVA to signal mating readiness or assert dominance.
  • Food Identification: Fruits, flowers, and prey often reflect UVA light in patterns visible only to animals with UVA-sensitive vision. This helps reptiles identify food sources that might otherwise go unnoticed under standard lighting.
  • Improved Enclosure Environments: Including UVA in artificial lighting creates a more naturalistic and stimulating environment for captive animals, promoting healthier behaviors and improving overall well-being.
  • Amphibian Egg Laying: Amphibians may exhibit behavioral strategies to optimize exposure to UVA for photorepair while avoiding harmful UVB radiation. For example, oviposition (egg-laying) behaviors are adjusted to ensure embryos receive sufficient UVA for DNA repair while minimizing UVB exposure.

Why UVA will up your plant game:

  • Promotes Biomass Production: UVA exposure significantly increases plant biomass, with shoot dry weights rising by 15–32% under controlled conditions. This is attributed to enhanced leaf area and light interception, which drive photosynthesis and growth.
  • Enhances Secondary Metabolites: UVA stimulates the accumulation of beneficial compounds such as anthocyanins, ascorbic acid, and phenolics. These metabolites improve plant quality, stress resistance, and nutritional value.
  • Improves Morphological Traits: Prolonged UVA exposure positively affects plant height, stem diameter, leaf thickness (specific leaf weight), and flower budding rates. These changes contribute to stronger and healthier plants.
  • Stimulates Photosynthetic Acclimation: UVA influences photosynthesis by promoting leaf-level acclimation, photoprotection mechanisms (e.g., flavonoid and carotenoid production), and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), which help plants adapt to high-light stress.
  • Accelerates Flowering and Development: UVA treatments have been shown to speed up flowering initiation and fruit development in some species, potentially shortening production cycles and increasing yields.

 

Here is a great video by Animals at Home podcast interviewing Thomas Griffiths where they go into some detail on the importance of UVA and how it's missing in MOST reptile lighting setups:

 

Flicker rate, why you should care about it, and what separates us from the competition.

LED flicker rate is a critical factor for reptile lighting that often goes overlooked. Flicker occurs when the light output fluctuates rapidly, and while humans may not perceive it above 60 Hz, many reptiles have higher visual sensitivity, allowing them to detect flicker that appears constant to us. For example, studies have shown that reptiles like the tuatara can perceive flicker frequencies up to 45.61 Hz, which could lead to stress or disrupted behavior if the lighting flickers at frequencies below their critical fusion frequency (CFF). Flickering lights can interfere with natural behaviors such as feeding, basking, and mating, and prolonged exposure may induce physiological stress. We use the very top of the line transformers and drivers to ensure the lowest flicker rate we can achieve. This ensures a visual experience for your animal that is as close to nature as possible. 

 

Sources:

  1. White Light For Reptiles - Sarina Wunderlich
  2. Impact of UV-B exposure on amphibian embryos
  3. Shedding Light on Ultraviolet Radiation and Amphibian Embryos
  4. Exploring UVA radiation effects on plant growth
  5. Discrimination of flicker frequency rates in the reptile tuatara (Sphenodon)
  6. UVA-Radiation Exposure Promoted Growth of Chinese Kale
  7. Potential Biological and Ecological Effects of Flickering Artificial Light
  8. UVA Radiation Is Beneficial for Indoor Cultivated Lettuce
  9. UVA Radiation Benefits Indoor Lettuce Quality