Bulbs in the enclosure and bulb guards

I'm thinking about upgrading my ball python's enclosure, but i've been looking on craigslist for enclosures and a lot of the ones I want are perfect except the light fixture is inside the enclosure. I currently have a 10 gallon tank with a lamp hanging above so my snake cannot reach the bulb and the tank's screen lid doesn't get hot.
But if the light fixture is inside the tank, wouldn't my snake be able to burn himself on it? Wouldn't a bulb guard get very hot as well and also burn the snake? I'm confused about how these enclosures work for snakes that like to climb around.

I use a heat pad for the main heat source and then a 100watt lamp to keep ambient temps above 70 (my house is rather cold).

Also can I still use a heat pad with the melamine enclosures? where would it go?

thanks

Depending on the thickness of the material a uth may work but it probably would not work that well. Most uth need to be outside the cage but there are a few made that are designed to go inside but I don't like that option.

Yes the bulb would need a guard around it. You should not require a bulb that would make the guard hot enough to become dangerous but that would be trial and error on your part to test it first to make sure.

You could also check into radiant heat panels. They would work well and could be used to create the hotspot and keep the ambient up. Again much of this will also depend on the cage size and thickness of the material. I can not give you any absolutes on this with the information given.

Thanks! Okay so basically people with those melamine tanks use either radiant heat panels or just a bulb to keep the temp correct? Is there a max wattage that will keep the bulb guard not too hot? Is 50 still too much?
How does the humidity do in those enclosures. My glass tank doesn't hold humidity well when I use my bulb, will that happen in melamine/wood enclosures too?

Any heat sure like a bulb or che will burn some humidity off.

I cant tell you what watt bulb you may need as it will depend on the material thickness, the room temperature, and the cage size. With that info I could better guess but it will still be a guess.

Your best bet would be to place the light on a tstat or at least a dimmer and then dial the bulb in to exactly what you need. This way you can have a overpowered bulb and turn it down which will make it last longer. A CHE may be a good choice and can last a really long time. I have one that was on 24/7 for over 2.5 years before I stopped using it, it still works.

These kinds of cages usually hold heat well so I wouldn't think it would be that hard to get it dialed in or require a bulb that is that high of a watt.

Ah okay, I dont even know the details of the enclosure yet since I haven't found one haha.
But I think I will do that instead of using a under belly heat source or something, is that ok with ball pythons?
Where should I put my tstat probe? Just somewhere on the hot side of the enclosure? Or maybe on the floor of the enclosure?

That's fine. Many large keepers only use ambient temps for their collections.

If you go with a rhp I like to place the tstat in a cable strap and then glue it to the rim of the unit. In the pic it may appear to be touching the surface of the rhp but it is not.

http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...ps52fe2e62.jpg

If you go with a bulb or che I would secure the probe to the guard you place around the heat source.

You do not want to place a tstat probe on the cage floor when using a heat source from above. If you were to place the probe on the cage floor the snake could lay on it and block the heat from reaching the probe and make the tstat turn up the power to the unit making the delivered temps to high.