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Atlas / Library / Xenopeltidae / Sunbeam Snake
Xenopeltidae

Sunbeam Snake

Xenopeltis unicolorงูแสงอาทิตย์

Traceable. The figures above appear in the page we cite, which we opened on 10 Aug 2026. That means you can check them, not that we have confirmed they are right. static1.squarespace.com

Photograph: Jay Paroline · CC BY

National law is not global, and we hold no national wildlife law for any country, Thailand included. Check your own authority before buying or selling.

Check your setup against this sheet I keep one 123 plants usable with this species
Back to the globe My keep

https://keepr.pet/husbandry/en/xenopeltis-unicolor

‹ All husbandry guides
warm end27–31 °C
cool end24–27 °C
Humidity80–100 %
Sunbeam Snake (Xenopeltis unicolor), photographed in the wild
Photograph · Chris Oldnall · CC BY-SA

Photographed by an observer on iNaturalist and published under a Creative Commons licence; the photographer and the licence are named under the image. It is not an animal of ours, and no animal was handled by us to produce it.

The numbers

Thermal gradient

152025303540 °C
24–27°Cool side
27–31°Warm side

A real gradient, 27–31°C warm against 24–27°C cool, so the animal chooses. The sheet states no separate night figure.

Why

Same scale on every sheet here, so two species compare by eye.

The sheet stateswarm 27-31 °C / cool 24-27 °C

Humidity

80–100%Target RH

The sheet states80 to 100% relative humidity

UVB

Optionalbeneficial

The sheet statesdo not require additional UVA/UVB lighting, although providing it can be greatly beneficial for their health, immune system, and overall wellness

Enclosure
Adult sunbeam snakes should be housed in a minimum of a 20 to 30 gallon long terrarium or enclosure; Hatchling and juvenile sunbeam snakes can be housed in a 10 gallon terrarium or enclosure
Diet
Carnivorous; In the wild, sunbeam snakes are carnivorous, and will prey upon rodents and other small mammals, smaller reptiles, amphibians, and other small vertebrates. In captivity, sunbeam snakes can be given feeder rodents of appropriate size, such as rats or mice, although they may require scenting

Identity

Origin

Enclosure and conditions

Temperature
warm 27–31 °C / cool 24–27 °C
Humidity
80–100%

What your climate adds

This sheet states a range to hold. Your local climate decides how much work holding it is. Pick the nearest city: nothing is sent anywhere, the choice stays in this browser.

Common questions

Why is it so shiny?

The scale surface splits light like oil on water. The rainbow is structure, not pigment, so it never fades.

Will I see it?

Not often. It burrows all day and moves at night, so buy it for the animal itself, not for a display.

Does it bite?

Very rarely. It is docile and its first instinct is to dig away from you.

Is it easy to keep?

No. Most are wild-caught, they need deep damp substrate, and many refuse food for a long time at first.

What it needs

A heat sourcebecause temp — warm 27-31 °C / cool 24-27 °C
A thermostat to regulate itbecause temp — warm 27-31 °C / cool 24-27 °C
A thermometerbecause temp — warm 27-31 °C / cool 24-27 °C
A hygrometerbecause humidity — 80 to 100% relative humidity
UVB, stated as beneficial rather than requiredbecause uvb — do not require additional UVA/UVB lighting, although providing it can be greatly beneficial for their health, immune system, and overall wellness
Not stated: The size of the enclosurethis sheet describes the enclosure without a figure: « Adult sunbeam snakes should be housed in a minimum of a 20 to 30 gallon long ter »

Every line above is deduced from a value this sheet states, and names which one. Nothing here is a general recommendation. What the sheet does not state is listed too, rather than left out: a kit that looks complete is worse than one that names its gap.

Sources

static1.squarespace.com — lu le 2026-08-04outbackreptiles.com — lu le 2026-08-04gbif.org — lu le 2026-08-08

Others in this group

Corn SnakePantherophis guttatusWestern Hognose SnakeHeterodon nasicusCalifornia KingsnakeLampropeltis californiaeEastern Hognose SnakeHeterodon platirhinosMexican Black KingsnakeLampropeltis getula nigritaSpeckled KingsnakeLampropeltis holbrookiEastern KingsnakeLampropeltis getulaGrey-banded KingsnakeLampropeltis alterna

What this sheet states

62%
TemperatureHumidityEnclosure sizeActivityOriginDietSourcesUVB

This sheet states 4 of 7 of the fields this product runs on. What is missing turns something off: enclosure size audit, day/night engine and awake count on the globe, the diet section. We show the gap rather than fill it with a plausible number.

UVB is measured but does not count: it is absent from 421 of 678 sheets, and on most of them that is not a gap, since a nocturnal snake's sheet has no reason to state a UV index. Counting it would call the library incomplete without cause.