Help!! new owner, electric malfunction

just got a ball python a few days ago. he is 9mos old and he slept on his warm side his first night here. when i went to check temps in the morning (it was 85 when i checked at night) the probe read the warm spot as 107!! way too hot!! so i peeled off the heat pad and found melted spots and it was just not right looking. got a new heat pad so that is all good, my question is is my snake okay? he could have been on it all night. he doesnt seem at all phased, drank water just fine of his own accord, and i checked him for burns- there were none. he moved around when i had him out of his tank to rearrange stuff, although he didnt do that thing where he lifts his head way up high like ive seen him done before? i havent noticed anything off. just want to make sure i didnt melt his brain or something. :tears:

Do you have a thermostat controlling the heat pad?

no i havent been able to pick one up but i have been checking temps every 20 mins since then just to be safe and am unplugging it at night as my room tends to stay between 70 and 80 degrees anyways. i am going to pick up a thermostat once i get paid

You can check his belly for burns


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i did check his belly. all is good. i just read that long time exposure to temps above 100 can result in organ damage and wanted to know if there was any way to tell without a vet vistit. ie, acting different, moving slower, ect. ?

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Originally Posted by plant

no i havent been able to pick one up but i have been checking temps every 20 mins since then just to be safe and am unplugging it at night as my room tends to stay between 70 and 80 degrees anyways. i am going to pick up a thermostat once i get paid

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This "idea" never end well, properly regulate your uth or don't use it at all. Change to a different heat source.

you need a thermostat. heat mats or heat tape do not work without a thermostat.

this is not a malfunction. heat mats and heat tape are designed to transform a constant amount of electricity into heat, they are not designed to reach a certain temperature. so when you run them unregulated, without a thermostat, the outcome will be unpredictable and the final temperature they eventually reach will be uncontrolled. its a design error of the setup, not a malfunction.

i understand i screwed up and am going to remedy the situation, what i want to know is if my snake is okay. thank you all for your replies

Hi,

It sounds as though he is fine but keep checking his underside for a day or two just to be sure.

yep, if you see nothing, if the belly looks fine, and if it stays that way, then its no problem, your BP is fine.

one minor correction to my last post: generally most UTHs are much more powerful than they need to be, so that they keep working when the room temperature takes a dive, or generally in colder rooms. but its also possible to get an UTH that has such a low energy output that all it can do in a certain setup is to rise the temperature a few degrees above ambient. but thats the exception.