heat during night

i was wonderin since ball pythons in the wild cant "bask" in the sun during the night would you need a basking spot at night as long as its still 72-80 degrees? i know during the day they need a basking spot with a hide underneath it and a hide on the cool side so they can regulate their temp. during the day.

Better leave your temps where they are at night. Unless you are breeding, there isn't a need for a night temp drop.

First...Your temperature should never get below 75 deg. F.

Think about the temp drop situation in nature....there is almost always a 'basking spot' in nature...

.....have you ever walked outside and touched the pavement during the night....most of the time it is still warm from the sun heating it up all day....the ground can work the same way...

.....have you ever noticed that their are generally reptiles on heat holding surfaces (such as rocks, roads, etc.) at night (I know you are a herper now so you must have seen something similar to this :) )....

There are alot of ways to get a 'basking spot' at night.....heat can come from things besides the sun :)

Also, letting the temps go down is just asking for health problems or getting a ball python to think its breeding season and go off feed...


92-94 warm/82-84 cool.....Everyday all the time :) ....unless you are preparing to breed :)

im not talking about dropping the temps... just asking if they would need the basking area because they wouldnt get a basking area at 10:00 at night in the wild(right?).

Do they need to bask (I mean a light) or just the thermal gradient held at a constant? I thought just constant temps, still learning though...

sorry the 72 degrees was a typo, i meant 75. i have seen snakes, lizzards etc. basking on the road at night but that was right or soon after the sun went down. wouldnt the pavement be cooled down by late night/early morning?

The constant temps are the most important. My heat comes only from flexwatt (UTH)....so there is not 'basking light'. I turn the 'snake room' light on at 8 am and turn it off at 8 pm....but there is no 'basking light'. There is a hot spot on the floor that works the same as the heat produced by the light. Ball pythons do not require UV light like some other reptiles so 'basking light' is not necessary....just a proper thermal gradient.

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Originally Posted by mr~python

sorry the 72 degrees was a typo, i meant 75. i have seen snakes, lizzards etc. basking on the road at night but that was right or soon after the sun went down. wouldnt the pavement be cooled down by late night/early morning?

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Ok.... I just walked outside and took a temp reading on the ground with my temp gun....93 deg F. It has been dark for 3 hours. During the day the pavement hits about 105 F-110 F here....and I am in north louisiana not in africa near the equator...

Way to prove a point Daniel ... LOL

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Originally Posted by mr~python

im not talking about dropping the temps... just asking if they would need the basking area because they wouldnt get a basking area at 10:00 at night in the wild(right?).

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Since the snake is being kept in a captive environment, I feel it's the owners duty to provide the snake with the entire range of temps it needs 24 hours a day. When it's in a cage it's not like it can go find something to bask on like it can in the wild if it needs to. No one is smart enough to know when and where a snake may want to bask ... captivity is NOT the wild ... so all you can do is give your snake the option and let it choose for itself. Also, with captive ball pythons being fed probably 10 - 20 times more often than they eat in the wild they are going to need to bask a lot more. I'm sure you could get away with cutting off the basking spot at night it you only fed 3 - 4 times a YEAR.

FWIW, field herping up and down the east coast, I've come across more snakes basking at night than during the day by an order of magnitude. To me, that's pretty significant.

Oh, and 75 is way too low for a ball python. Keep the temps above 80 and you won't have to worry about respiratory infections. I've seen ball pythons get slight URI's when kept at 77 - 78 degrees in drafty areas.

-adam