Hello All! I am Steve and am new to this forum and have been out of the snake game for nearly 18 years. I just have a few questions / Idea’s I need help with.

I had two female ball pythons when I was 10 and had them until I was 13 then sold them for money towards a BMX bike (regret it still). Fast forward 18 years later and I am in the market for a new ball python, but I have a few concerns. I have always been a dog person, and I had never had a problem with them and my snakes when I was a kid. Well, the girlfriend on the other hand has two cats and I have a few concerns with them and the tank. I have a 20 gallon (24.5” x 16 ¾” x 12 ½”) that I anticipated utilizing while the ball python is a tiny until I can move it up to the 55 gallon tank I have. I am going to make a lower stand for it (maybe 10” – 12” off the floor with) with some sort of doors under it for storage. But my concern comes with the top, I plan on framing a wood top with small thin chicken wire so the cats (one older grumpy cat and one kitten) can’t scratch through it. But do I have any concerns with the heat lamps? Should I make some sort of conduit frame to hang them from or enclose them with an “upper” cabinet (so all you would see is the front face of the tank)? I just fear either the lamps getting knocked onto the carpet or if I build a upper cabinet that it might get to hot in side with the heat lamps. Being in a two bed room apartment makes this harder than just shutting the door with the cats out of the room.

Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. If this topic is in the wrong forum, I apologies and would gladly move it to the correct location.

Thanks!
-Steve