Ball python heating

My ball pythons share a household heating pad that is set on the lowest temperature, however before I had it on a medium setting they would feel warm to the touch, now they aren't warm, but one (my oldest one I've had for a month or so) is active at night but I've never seen my new one come out. I was wondering if maybe it's too cold? When I place my hand on top of the media with the heat pad I can barely feel any heat. I know our human body temperature is around 98 or something so does that mean it's a good temp? Not sure. I don't have a heat gun so I can't check the exact the temps but the my thermometer reads around 80-84 as an air temp. It's a exo Tera probe one.

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h1...psp2koldrd.jpg

Please explain "Share"
I hope you don't mean cohabitating....

No it's one large heating mat and I have two tubs. Sorry I should have specified

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Joshuaderetich

My ball pythons share a household heating pad that is set on the lowest temperature, however before I had it on a medium setting they would feel warm to the touch, now they aren't warm, but one (my oldest one I've had for a month or so) is active at night but I've never seen my new one come out. I was wondering if maybe it's too cold? When I place my hand on top of the media with the heat pad I can barely feel any heat. I know our human body temperature is around 98 or something so does that mean it's a good temp? Not sure. I don't have a heat gun so I can't check the exact the temps but the my thermometer reads around 80-84 as an air temp. It's a exo Tera probe one.

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A few things here

1 If you are using a Household heating pads know that they are not designed for snakes nor are they designed to run 24/7 this mean FIRE HAZARD. Now if you use a UTH than you should have a t-stat and have it set on whatever allows you to achieve optimum temps.

2 You MUST know your temperatures not guess so you MUST have a reliable digital thermometer and have it set properly.

The key here is research, research, research.

Our body temps are 98, so if something feels "warm" to us, it's likely over 100 degrees. That would be too hot for a ball python. you NEED a good thermostat. Period. If you have a large section of heat tape like this: http://www.reptilebasics.com/heat-tape, It's okay for both tubs to share it, but you need to have it regulated with a thermostat, and you need to have a thermometer of some sort monitoring both tubs.


IF you don't get this corrected very soon, the health of your snakes could become a very serious issue very quickly.