How important is basking area?

[muzikfreakah]

Hey guys, I am from the Philippines, so the weather is perfect for BP's, do I still need to put a basking area even if the regular temps here range from 85-90 everyday? With occasional 80-85 on rainy days and 75-80 at night?

[AMBiEN22]

Think of it this way if you do not have belly heat it would be a good idea to grab an UTH. Otherwise if you can control the humidity and the temps you speak of are Ambient temps.

Check out the care sheet on a goo temp guide.

Keep in mind you want a enclosure with a hot side around 89-93 basking and cold side around 78-85.

[Adam Chandler]

Hey there, BP's do not bask so a basking light is unnecessary for them. Ball Pythons just care about surface temperatures. They require a cool side with a surface temperature of about 78-83 and a warm side with a surface temperature of 88-93 (you want the surface temp in their warm side hide to also be this temp). BP's need these 2 different sides so they can properly thermoregulate(since they can't control their body temperature they need to be able to move to areas with different temps they can change their internal temp).

For taking surface temperatures I recommend a IR thermometer, such as www.tempgun.com

[muzikfreakah]

I am scared if I get an undertank heater it will become to hot like 110 or more because the temps here are already hot.

[Adam Chandler]

I'd recommend a UTH with somekind of Thermostat controlling the temp. I've heard good things about the Hydrofarm for controlling UTH's (http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...1872195&sr=8-2)
Or one of these thermostats:http://www.reptilebasics.com/thermostats
I'm not sure what your selection is over in the Philippines is though.

[muzikfreakah]

Here, well ummm let me see.. we have..

NONE!

Lol! :-)

The snake industry here is quite small, hence, very expensive BPs even from breeders, more so from pet shops who just get from breeders.

Amazon will do. I usually just order at amazon and have them delivered at a friends house in LA and find someone to bring them home.

Thanks for the links.. Thermostat is a great solution to control the temp of the heat pad.

I will a little more research here.

[Homegrownscales]

Ya I recommend belly heat of some sort. Ambient is fine but the thermostat would definately be the way to go with a uth.

[Adam Chandler]

Here, well ummm let me see.. we have..

NONE!

Lol! :-)

The snake industry here is quite small, hence, very expensive BPs even from breeders, more so from pet shops who just get from breeders.

Amazon will do. I usually just order at amazon and have them delivered at a friends house in LA and find someone to bring them home.

Thanks for the links.. Thermostat is a great solution to control the temp of the heat pad.

I will a little more research here.

Kudos for doing so much research for your BP's

Good luck finding what you need. If you have any more questions just let us know. There are lots of awesome people on here who are always happy to help

[m00kfu]

There's been a few breeders that keep ball pythons with ambient temperatures in the mid-80's and no supplemental heat. I personally have kept them with an ambient temperature of 83 degrees and no additional heat and they did great. If your temperatures really do stay that high year round you probably won't need anything under the tank.

[zato1]

here in México the temps (not in my actual city, but in Cuernavaca, where i used to live before) are about 85-95 in spring and summer, 85-90 in fall and about 78-87 in winter, and BP and Boas do very very well with no artificial heat, but some days it get higher, about 98 so i did have a hide with a few humid coconut fiber or peatmoss in one side and a hide with nothing in it in the other side, newspaper as substrate and it worked just fine, i would not concern about enough heat, and honestly either about too much heat, just wanted them to be as comfortable as posible, the times i did forget to put humid hides in summer they just soaked in his water bowl, and i can tell they were fine because they eated, pooped and sheddeed very well.
i have acquitances that live in Méxicali (city of north México) where temps reach 104 F (40C) and they DO need cooling sistems, still some of them dont have complicated systems or A/C on, just a fan in the room directly to the rack, or/and humid hides.