Water bowl and heat question.

My wife is getting me my first ball python for my birthday next week. I ordered one of Mike Wilbanks' AP Cages to start her out in until she's a little bigger and I can put her in a 4'x2'x2' without her being overwhelmed by the size of her enclosure. It has the 3" heat strip all along the back of the enclosure, but I wasn't sure if that would be a big enough heat pad for her so I also got her a 6"x8" heat pad for belly heat to cover a 9"x8" spot in the corner and I plan on getting her a Pro Heat radiant heat panel as soon as possible for that side of the enclosure. My question is––do you guys put the water bowl on the warm side or the cool side? And since the entire back has a heat strip would you recommend not using the 3" heat strip at all so that she can have a truly dedicated warm side and cool side or is it okay to put the water bowl on top of the heat strip just as long as it's not under the radiant heat panel?

Purely as my own personal experience: I always put the water in the cool end. Otherwise, it's going to evaporate very quickly, and the snake will only have warm water to drink. A cool water bowl helps them regulate their temperature, by wrapping around it if they're too warm. I can offer no input on the heat, since my rack has underbelly heat to begin with, but I'm sure others will.

I appreciate the advice.

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Originally Posted by Argentum

Purely as my own personal experience: I always put the water in the cool end. Otherwise, it's going to evaporate very quickly, and the snake will only have warm water to drink. A cool water bowl helps them regulate their temperature, by wrapping around it if they're too warm. I can offer no input on the heat, since my rack has underbelly heat to begin with, but I'm sure others will.

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I appreciate the advice.

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Originally Posted by egsnow

My wife is getting me my first ball python for my birthday next week. I ordered one of Mike Wilbanks' AP Cages to start her out in until she's a little bigger and I can put her in a 4'x2'x2' without her being overwhelmed by the size of her enclosure. It has the 3" heat strip all along the back of the enclosure, but I wasn't sure if that would be a big enough heat pad for her so I also got her a 6"x8" heat pad for belly heat to cover a 9"x8" spot in the corner and I plan on getting her a Pro Heat radiant heat panel as soon as possible for that side of the enclosure. My question is––do you guys put the water bowl on the warm side or the cool side? And since the entire back has a heat strip would you recommend not using the 3" heat strip at all so that she can have a truly dedicated warm side and cool side or is it okay to put the water bowl on top of the heat strip just as long as it's not under the radiant heat panel?

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I highly recommend that you set up & fully TEST your enclosure for at least a few days & preferably a week before you move a snake in- because it's no fun trying to make adjustments when it's occupied, & it also stresses the occupant. You might need to add or subtract things to get the right temps.- and it's pretty hard for anyone to say exactly what you need since the ambient room/house temperatures make a difference too. Some of us use way more A/C or heat in winter than others do. Also, enclosures can be insulated or not.

BTW- it takes time for heat from UTH to build up- and your enclosure can end up being too hot if you try to adjust things too quickly- and unfortunately you cannot just set thermostats to the temp. you want- you have to actually verify what's being achieved inside the enclosure where the snake will be.

If you need to raise the humidity, putting the water bowl over the UTH will help some- but mostly the humidity depends on minimizing the air circulation. Water bowls also grow a lot more "germs" when the water is kept warm, so they're better off on the cool side.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I highly recommend that you set up & fully TEST your enclosure for at least a few days & preferably a week before you move a snake in- because it's no fun trying to make adjustments when it's occupied, & it also stresses the occupant. You might need to add or subtract things to get the right temps.- and it's pretty hard for anyone to say exactly what you need since the ambient room/house temperatures make a difference too. Some of us use way more A/C or heat in winter than others do. Also, enclosures can be insulated or not.

BTW- it takes time for heat from UTH to build up- and your enclosure can end up being too hot if you try to adjust things too quickly- and unfortunately you cannot just set thermostats to the temp. you want- you have to actually verify what's being achieved inside the enclosure where the snake will be.

If you need to raise the humidity, putting the water bowl over the UTH will help some- but mostly the humidity depends on minimizing the air circulation. Water bowls also grow a lot more "germs" when the water is kept warm, so they're better off on the cool side.

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I'm going to have her in a quarantine tub for about 2 months before she gets moved to her enclosure, but I appreciate the heads up on that. My house pretty much stays between 67-70º year round and it's a PVC enclosure so I'm not so sure how insulated that would be. I do have a question about putting her on paper towel during the quarantine process though, but I'm not sure if I should ask it here or create a new thread for it.

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Originally Posted by egsnow

I'm going to have her in a quarantine tub for about 2 months before she gets moved to her enclosure, but I appreciate the heads up on that. My house pretty much stays between 67-70º year round and it's a PVC enclosure so I'm not so sure how insulated that would be. I do have a question about putting her on paper towel during the quarantine process though, but I'm not sure if I should ask it here or create a new thread for it.

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White paper towels for a substrate are recommended for all newly-acquired snakes while quarantined (or for the first month+ if the only snake) so that issues show up easily & can be addressed. Things like mites or any bleeding from the cloaca, for example, are things you'd want to be immediately aware of, since mites can kill snakes (small or stressed ones even more quickly) & blood might be from a prolapse or a gastrointestinal issue. (No need for a new thread...;) It's all related to your new set-up.)

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

White paper towels for a substrate are recommended for all newly-acquired snakes while quarantined (or for the first month+ if the only snake) so that issues show up easily & can be addressed. Things like mites or any bleeding from the cloaca, for example, are things you'd want to be immediately aware of, since mites can kill snakes (small or stressed ones even more quickly) & blood might be from a prolapse or a gastrointestinal issue. (No need for a new thread...;) It's all related to your new set-up.)

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Well no, I understand the purpose for using paper towels during the quarantine process. My question is––how much water should I add to the paper towel and where, so that I can maintain the proper humidity levels for her while she's on the paper towel as her substrate? And should it be added to the warm side or cool side of the tub?

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Originally Posted by egsnow

Well no, I understand the purpose for using paper towels during the quarantine process. My question is––how much water should I add to the paper towel and where, so that I can maintain the proper humidity levels for her while she's on the paper towel as her substrate? And should it be added to the warm side or cool side of the tub?

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I wouldn't add water to the paper towels at all- you don't want a snake laying on wet substrate. There's other ways to increase the humidity- you might try including a "humid hide" with a damp sponge- rather than using damp sphagnum moss (as we normally would) which would be terribly "helpful" to mites if there are any lurking.