75 deg. good for a cool spot??

[denisthemenace]

I was just reading up on a few random caresheets and two of which i read stated 75 is fine for the cool side.. and the other said that 75 is good of night time drop, but like adam said and most of you concur its better to have constant temps and not have them drop. Here is the link to a couple of the caresheets... (this one states its ok for 70-80 range for night time) http://coloherp.org/careshts/snakes/ballpyth.php
http://www.kingsnake.com/ballpythonguide/

[new2BP]

i actually questioned this last week. i also see many caresheets that say 75 is ok for cool spot and that night time drop is ok. however the experts on this site and in general will tell u to keep the cool side over 80 at all times.

[tigerlily]

Definitely keep temps over 80 degrees!! That is based on old information.

[Adam_Wysocki]

Many care sheets on the internet are based on old/outdated information or are actually copy and paste jobs from other species of snakes. Every day we learn more and more about the best way to care for ball pythons and the current techniques used by professional breeders include one side of the cage at 82-84 and the other at 92-94 with no night time drop under normal circumstances.

I'm pretty sure that the guy that wrote the ball python guide on kingsnake.com doesn't even keep ball pythons anymore?

For the best and most current information, make sure your source is up to date ... many care sheets floating around on the internet are not!

-adam

[denisthemenace]

alright guys thanks a lot

[RWillinnable]

I am curious as to what the temperature range is on average throughout the ball python's natural habitat. It can't possibly be 82 - 94 degrees 365. (366 on leap year.) Does anyone have this information? And if the temperature range does fluctuate outside of these norms, then why is it so imperative to keep them in this temperature range? Are these maybe the temps that breeders find to be most efficient when encouraging breeding? Are they healthy temps regardless of whether you breed?

I ask this because while most of Shahrazad's cage is within Adam's suggested temps, there is one part of the cage that routinely dips below 80 and I often see Sharazad sleeping there, especially now that it is winter time. And when I take him out and increase his body temperature in accordance with mine, he will immediately head back to that sub 80 spot. And he is as healthy as a snake can be from all that I have observed.

This leads me to believe that different ball pythons have different preferences for temperatures depending on factors such as weather, time of year and whether they have eaten recently.

Rachel

[Adam_Wysocki]

Ball pythons live on the equator, the ambient are temperatures don't fluctuate throughout the year like most people are used to. But even so, in their natural environments, ball pythons have the ability to roam and seek out optimal temps in either the low 80's or low 90's depending on their needs ... a warm humid subterranean burrow or a basking rock that has been heated in the sun.

In captivity, we can not provide the natural range that they are used to, so instead we keep their cages at a constant temp that allows them to thrive.

As far as your ball python seeking out the coolest part of the cage, frequently, as males and females sexually mature, they will seek out cooler temperatures as they would in the wild during their breeding season. These cooler temps slow down their metabolism and increases their hormone levels and sometimes trigger fasting ... some ball pythons that aren't in peak physical condition or that spend too much time in these cooler conditions may develop respiratory infections because not having the ability to expose themselves to such conditions in the wild, they don’t have an immune system capable of dealing with the effects the cooler temperatures on have their bodies.

If you were to instead always provide temps that are 82-84 on one side and 92-94 on the other, your ball python won't be distracted by it's natural breeding instinct, keep it's metabolism at it's optimal levels, and be a strong reliable, consistent feeder.

-adam

[RWillinnable]

If you were to instead always provide temps that are 82-84 on one side and 92-94 on the other, your ball python won't be distracted by it's natural breeding instinct, keep it's metabolism at it's optimal levels, and be a strong reliable, consistent feeder.

-adam

But wouldn't distracting a being from its normal breeding instincts lead to, for lack of a better phrase, psychological trauma? We know for instance that in humans, denying the sexual self healthy outlets leads to a whole host of troubles. Can this line of thinking be related to snakes, since both of our sexual desires originate in what we call the hypothalomus of the brain, but is in fact the only brain that snakes possess?

Rachel

[Adam_Wysocki]

But wouldn't distracting a being from its normal breeding instincts lead to, for lack of a better phrase, psychological trauma? We know for instance that in humans, denying the sexual self healthy outlets leads to a whole host of troubles. Can this line of thinking be related to snakes, since both of our sexual desires originate in what we call the hypothalomus of the brain, but is in fact the only brain that snakes possess?

But the snake is only responding to an external stimulus. Without the stimulus the snake thrives just the same.

I don't think comparing a human brain or psyche to a snakes is even remotely ... not sure how to say this in a "PC" way .... logical? Snakes are simple organisms driven my instinct and external stimuli and humans as we know are complex.

Animals kept as pets are distracted from their natural breeding instincts and even all natural instincts all the time. Beta fish are kept isolated ... dogs and cats are not allowed to hunt ... birds are kept in cages without the ability to fly ... if you'd like to go down this road, then maybe keeping pets isn't the best thing for you?

Look at it this way ... dogs are designed to hunt and roam in packs ... we don't allow our dogs to do that because they can get lost or even injured running the streets wildly with other dogs .. so for their own well being, we keep them inside, or in a yard, or on a leash ... same thing with snakes ... unless you're going to engage the snake in a breeding program for the purpose of making more snakes, then keeping them at temperatures that do not induce breeding behavior is best for their own well being given that the possible side effects of that induced behavior could lead to their illness or death.

-adam

[MedusasOwl]

A snake can't guarantee that it's going to even find another snake to shag during "breeding time" in the wild, so it only makes sense that they're fine either way in captivity. There's a number of animals that are like that, particularly solitary coldblooded animals, like Adam said it's all about external stimulus. It's also more of an opportunist situation than it is with more social creatures, like my rabbits who go at it even though they're both fixed