I need to vent a little about this. As new people get into the hobby they look at care sheets which is great. It shows they are responsible and care about their animals. The problem is these care sheets were put together 30 years ago. If you follow the sheets your snake will do just fine. The problem is people get hung up on them. The care sheet said this so it has to be. That is not true. The two issues I have are temps and day/night cycle.
Let's begin with the day/night cycle. Ball pythons are nocturnal they hunt and roam at night for the most part. They also live underground. Unlike some reptiles they have no need for uv lighting. Yes they do come out during the day when they need to. They don't come out because they want to be in light. There is absolutely no reason for a day/night cycle. Also lights with a tank setup should be banned as far as I am concerned. If your ambient is really cold then do what you need to. The lights stress the animal and take the humidity from the tank so they should only be used if absolutely needed.
Second thing is the temps. Temps have been debated since the first ball pythons have been kept in captivity. A temp of 80 ambient and 90 hot seems to be the area of temps in a lot of care sheets. The lows in parts of Africa where these snakes are get into the 60s through some parts of the year. Yes it does stay warmer under ground where they live. However they need to go out and hunt and breed so they do get exposed to these temps. Most breeders I know keep their ambient in the low 70s. Some like myself have kept them in the high 60s. I do not recommend going this cold for those that are new to ball pythons. However I am tired of hearing new people in the hobby saying the ambient has to be 80 and you must have light for them because both statements are false. Vent over LOL
