New to forum and heating question kinda urgent

Hello Im new to this forum and we have just got our first Ball Python yesterday. The question I have is that we have just bought a red heat bulb75 watt for our 10 gallon tank and for use at night and i noticed the snake lays in it alot. The temp on the wall in the tank on a chep themometer says 85 and it is located between the hot and cold zone. I have a digital infared gauge and it says about 92 where the snake is laying and when you measure the temp of him it ranges to almost 94 at times. Is this ok and shouldnt he have enough sense to move to the cold side of the tank and cool off if he is too hot? Thanks

Get rid of the heat lamp!!!!!, Balls require belly heat. he will burn himself.

How is this red heat bulb gonna burn him if the temps it gives off are similar to the blue looking bulb i was told to use for day time light and heat? Not doubting you just curious. Also I notice all the pet stores use heat bulbs.

All heat should be regulated by a thermostat. You can get one online made by Hydrofarm for like $40.00. Unfortunately reptiles do Not have the capacity to move when they are getting burnt. They don't feel it. Therefor we need to prevent it. It sounds like he isn't getting warm enough on his belly. That's the heat they really need to digest their food and regulate their temps. I would make these changes immediately.
- get rid of the heat lamp get an uth that covers no more than 1/2 of the tank
- get a thermostat
- put digital thermometer probes on the floor of The hot side and cold side. Temps on hotside should be 92.f and cold side 80.f

Hopefully this helps you

Heat lights do nothing but make the ambient temps too hot and suck humidity. Belly heat is much more beneficial as it aides in digestion. Any UTH needs to be regulated with a thermostat, but I'd switch up for sure. Here is some advice I just gave someone today regarding common husbandry issues.

"You have to upload pictures to a hosting site such as photobucket.com or tinypic.com, you then copy and paste the IMG link into the box here, it is labelled the one for forum boards. It sounds like your temps are too high, but you still have not mentioned how you are reading temps. I am going to assume it's with the stick on analog guages, which are dangerously inaccurate. Just a few pointers to help you out okay?

Being a baby ball python, the tank she is in shouldn't be any larger than 20 gallon long. Ball pythons like small tight spaces, and that includes hides. There should be two hides, one on the hot side and one on the cool side.

Belly heat is much more beneficial to snakes, as it aides in digestion. Heat lamps not only suck the humidity out of the tank, but they get very hot and generally heat up the tank too much. I suggest ditching the lamps and getting an under tank heater and a thermostat.

Thermostats are necessary for UTHs. UTHs get VERY hot, and even if they don't feel hot to our touch, it is far too hot for a snake. The hot side should remain between 88-92, and the cool side between 78-82.
Thermostats can range from useful and cheap to top of the line. Here is the cheapest one I would recommend.
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...3&sr=8-1-spell

You should invest in a digital thermometer to read cool/hot side temps and humidity.
http://www.amazon.com/Chaney-Instrum...6786276&sr=8-4
You place the unit on the cool side, and place the probe on the hot side. This way it reads both temps and humidity inside the tank all in one unit.

You may also be interested in getting a temp gun. They are a great tool for any reptile owner as they read surface temps with great accuracy, however they are not necessary.
http://tempgun.com/

You may also want to consider blacking out the sides and back on the tank to help her feel more secure. You can buy black adhesive Con-Tact paper from Home Depot, one roll is $6 and that's all you need. It really makes a considerable difference in their security.

I also suggest covering about 1/2 to 2/3 of the screen top, to help hold in humidity. You can use anything from aluminum foil to plexi glass.

After you've made some changes, I suggest leaving her alone for a full week. Once she has settled in her new home, try feeding at night. If she doesn't eat then, I'd be surprised Good luck! Hope this helps..."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Homegrownscales

All heat should be regulated by a thermostat. You can get one online made by Hydrofarm for like $40.00. Unfortunately reptiles do Not have the capacity to move when they are getting burnt. They don't feel it. Therefor we need to prevent it. It sounds like he isn't getting warm enough on his belly. That's the heat they really need to digest their food and regulate their temps. I would make these changes immediately.
- get rid of the heat lamp get an uth that covers no more than 1/2 of the tank
- get a thermostat
- put digital thermometer probes on the floor of The hot side and cold side. Temps on hotside should be 92.f and cold side 80.f

Hopefully this helps you

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SO what kind of lighting should I have?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Harleyx2

SO what kind of lighting should I have?

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None, they are nocturnal and do not need lighting, it will only stress them out.

You can't trust what most pet stores do. Most employees don't know proper husbandry. I emphasize 'most' as there are some good ones, but they are few and far between. Heating by lamp is not always bad, but BPs don't do as well because they are a more secretive snake. A lamp isn't going to warm his hot-side hide box to 92* without creating very very hot ambient temps. I doubt your lamp is going to burn your snake (assuming it is not actually inside his enclosure), but a UTH will be better for him because he can get on the warm spot but still feel secure in his hide.

The proper setup for a ball python is to have a UTH opperating on a thermostat (do NOT scimp on the thermostat!!! UTHs will overheat and burn if not opperated with one) at one end of the enclosure. This hot-spot should be at about 90-92*. Ambient temps should be at about 80* and humidity at about 50-60%. There should be 2 identical hides - one on the hot spot and one at the cool end. This will allow your BP to properly thermoregulate.

This is what happens when using heat lamps, heat rocks etc.

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/DSCF1113.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/DSCF1114.jpg

This little guy came to 3 weeks ago, the owner was told to use a che for heat, snakes do not feel pain like we do, and will curl up on/in the light fixture or rock and get burned. Purchase a heat mat & thermostat.

Check out the sticky's in the forums for husbandry, you will find tons of helpful information.
Welcome to BP.net :)

The first thing is an IR gun CANNOT measure glass temps at all. It reflects to much and is quite random.

snakes will move when they get too hot the trouble is caused by low ambient temps and high direct temps The core remains cool while the skin burns. Belly top or back it makes no real difference the most natural is over head however just like the sun.

The issues with heat lamps are real however, they can easily amp up the temps to extreme amounts and do mess with humidiy although temps beat humidity every time improper temps cause death either to high or too low. Low humidity is an issue but not nearly as critical.

The snake should NEVER be able to reach the heat source directly, especially lamps as they get instant burn zone almost upon turning them on. The first thing is to make sure the snake cannot ever reach the lamp. The second is temps a lamp in a small enclosure is hard to build a gradient you need to have a gradient there are three temps to be concerned about. Cool end surface temp 78-82 the optimal being 80. Warm end (not really hot...) surface 90-94ºF 90 being a good safe temp. The last is the ambient air should be around 80-83ºF it can be measured around the middle of the enclosure half way up the sides (unless it is quite tall then 1/3 is fine)

How ever you maintain these temps doesn't matter as long as the animal cannot reach the heat source at all. A thermostat is the best way to maintain these in a variable temperature room (if your room temps change at all) if you are using a plastic tub I'd shy away from the on off type as there is no mass to take the edge off the temperature spikes that are produced by the on off type t-stats. (on/off like a hydrofarm..)