A couple questions..

[mischevious21]

Hey, I'm new here and I have a few questions that I was hoping someone could help me out with. I have a 20in baby BP named Rin, who eats regularly and is very outgoing and gentle.
The first one is the more important one: I have a 15 gallon tank with a heating pad and 75w heat lamp on one side (the heated of course), a wooden hide box (now currently on the hot side), a water bowl in the middle, and a paper towel roll (Rin likes to hide in it and roll it around) and a cardboard hide box on the cooler side. The warm side is about 92 in the day and 84 at night, and the cooler side about 80 in the day and 75 at night. The problem is shes ALWAYS on the cold side! Shes never anywhere near the warm side unless I put her there or if shes getting a drink. At first I thought it was she didnt like the cardboard hide, so I switched them to see but it didn't make a differnce. It worries me because whenever I pickher up shes freezing, and I don't want her to get sick. So I was wondering if this is something to be worried about or not basically.
The second one is really not to important, I was just wondering if theres any way to determine the sex of the snake without probeing, and if not then can I only get it done at the vet, or would maybe the petstore I got her (him?) from be able to do it?

[Nate]

I'll leave your first question alone...and let someone else with a bit more experiance answer.

As for question number 2...the best way is to spend the few bucks and go to a vet and have them probe. The other way, Popping, I would not recommend a newbie try. Popping is usually done to babies. And someone who doesn't know what they're doing could really injure their snake. If you're able to find a local herper who is experianced with Ball pythons, then ask the favor and get it sexed.

I've heard that a females tail is longer than a males too....but i've never been able to tell.

[mischevious21]

Thanks. Yea, I'll probably just go to the vet.. I've heard of the tail thing too, but I could never tell either. lol. But yea, if someone could please still help me out with the first question, that would be great!!

[Ti&To]

It is probably too hot. I have owned two ball pythins for about 10 years but I am not a profesional by no means. My experience with my snakes was the same, I started putting a t-shirt around the heating pad and realized it got really warm. I decided to buy the heating pads that people use for shoulder pain. You can regulate the T on these and I realized that they liked the minimum setting which I though was not warm enough. I never used a lamp so I cannot help you on this.
The other tip is that the hiding be half on the pad and half off that way the snake can choose and still be hiding

[Spaniard]

It is probably too hot. I have owned two ball pythins for about 10 years but I am not a profesional by no means. My experience with my snakes was the same, I started putting a t-shirt around the heating pad and realized it got really warm. I decided to buy the heating pads that people use for shoulder pain. You can regulate the T on these and I realized that they liked the minimum setting which I though was not warm enough. I never used a lamp so I cannot help you on this.
The other tip is that the hiding be half on the pad and half off that way the snake can choose and still be hiding

I don't think you should be advising people to use a human heating pad as a means of heat for a ball python. They are not designed for 24 hour use and could harm your snake and even burn down your house should they malfunction.

[mousch]

I'm gonna bump this because I've been watching it sink all day. Evening crew, can you help out?

[JLC]

The first one is the more important one: I have a 15 gallon tank with a heating pad and 75w heat lamp on one side (the heated of course), a wooden hide box (now currently on the hot side), a water bowl in the middle, and a paper towel roll (Rin likes to hide in it and roll it around) and a cardboard hide box on the cooler side. The warm side is about 92 in the day and 84 at night, and the cooler side about 80 in the day and 75 at night. The problem is shes ALWAYS on the cold side! Shes never anywhere near the warm side unless I put her there or if shes getting a drink. At first I thought it was she didnt like the cardboard hide, so I switched them to see but it didn't make a differnce. It worries me because whenever I pickher up shes freezing, and I don't want her to get sick.

Hi and welcome to BP.net! :

To answer your question, I need to ask a question: What are you using to measure the temps? And where exactly are you measuring them?

If you're using those little stick-on dials from the petstore, it is highly likely that the temps inside the hides on the warm side are wayyy higher than you think they are. First off, those dials are notoriously inaccurate. Second off, they are measuring the temp on the glass above where the snake actually is.

Get yourself a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer from WalMart or Home Depot. They cost less than $15 and a single unit will accurately give you temps on the cool side...the warm side (inside the hide!)...and the ambient humidity of your tank.

If you're already positive that the temps inside the warm hide are in the low 90's and no hotter...then you just need to trust your snake to know what's best for itself.

A couple of extra words, though: First...you shouldn't have the temps drop at night. To help prevent illness, keep the gradient 92-94 and 82-84...and keep it at that 24/7. Second....get identical hides for each side of the tank. If the hides are identical, then you'll never have to wonder if your snake is chosing security over proper thermoregulation.

Good luck with it!