Heat is just a few degrees too cool.

I went to Repticon Columbia yesterday and picked up a beautiful Lesser Ball Python. He is young and is currently being housed in a 10 gallon aquarium with screen lid and that is being heated by a 60 watt moonlite reptile bulb. His thermometer says its about 85 on the warm side of the tank which I think is just a bit low. I am trying to figure out of I should just get a different heater or add another to supplement the moonlite bulb? It's only a 10 gallon tank so I don't want something too powerful that makes it too hot. I don't like under tank heaters and would prefer not to use them. Any thoughts?

That warm side temperature is perfectly acceptable. Just be sure not to overfeed. Also, give him a bit longer to digest meals before handling.

Thanks John. I was thinking that it needed to be nearer to 90 but if 85 is fine then that simplifies things for me. All I need to do now is get a second hide for him and find the right climbing branch to fit in there and I think I'm set.

I use a thermostat with my heating. Right now, I'm using 100w CHE for my enclosures. I like my heating source to be plenty powerful, and let the thermostat keep the temp right; that way the CHE isn't struggling to heat the enclosure to what the stat is set to, or if I need it, I have some room in my wattage to up the temps.

So a ceramic heat emitter and a thermostat may be a little safer in regards to keeping a good temp for my snake then? I've never used the ceramic heaters before. Any idea what wattage would be good for a 10 gallon tank?

I used a CHE for my dubia roach bin, my 30 gallon breeder for my ball python and a night heat for my bearded dragon. I run them all on lamp dimmers you get from Home Depot. Unless you are running them on a dimming T-stat, the temp swings would seem huge to me as they heat up, then turn off and then the element cools down, then it will turn back on and have to heat the element and then once its at the temp, it would turn off and the element would stay hot for probably 10 mins. Dimming T-stats would just limit the power to them but keep them running. I use Herpstat for my RHP which is like a better version of a CHE. Herpstats are both proportional and/or dimming while VE offers one model which is dimming.

As for wattage in a 10 gallon, it depends on the ambient room temps. You could use a 100 watt with a lamp dimmer and then just turn it low. But im sure if your room stays around 75F, a 60 watt would probably work too. Just remember CHEs get REALLY hot. My 60 watt one errors my temp gun at over 660F so you want to make sure your snake cant touch it EVER! Or the dome you put it in as those get pretty darn hot as well. CHEs are much better though as they last forever and aren't as delicate as light bulbs.