Ceramic heater question

Hi all,

I have been using a heat mat for my ball since I got him 5 years ago. Recently, he's been fasting and I'm concerned that the heat mat isn't keeping him warm enough. My vet has suggested that a heat lamp would be better and I've been out and bought a ceramic heater and fitting, plus a guard. But I can't find any information anywhere that tells me how much clearance there should be around the heater! It's metal, so I assume it will heat up and have the potential to hurt my snake. Does anyone know how far away the guard should be from a heat lamp?

TIA.

hi, personally i would never put a heat lamp (or any hot heat source for that matter) inside the tank. this because even if you have the lamp guard I've seen pictures of ball pythons going inside of the guard somehow and badly burning themselves because of it. I have a tank where i can set the ceramic lamp on top of the tank this way there is no possibility of my snake coiling around the lamp and then burning itself. maybe that is possible for you too?

i don't know if you have one already or not but a thermostat would be useful too (this way the tank can never get above the temperature you set it at;))

What are your tempatures? Seeing as you're saying you're "concerned that the heat mat isn't keeping him warm enough.", I would hope that you're not just guessing the temps or using your hand to measure them? You need a digital thermometer to check the ambient temps, a tempature gun to check the surface temps, and ALL heat sources have to be regulated by a thermostat.

For snakes ceramic heat emitters are supposed to usually stay on top of the tank screen inside a fixture, where the snake can't reach it. It works the same as a heat lamp, but doesn't output light.

Make sure you know your exact tempatures, and everything is regulated by a thermostat!

CHE’s go on top of a screened top not inside ever. The heat mat (UTH) is one of the best ways to get his Hot Spot. The CHE’s are used to raise ambient temps and get your cool side.
What you need to do is to make sure the Heat mat is 88-91 registering on the inside floor of Hot Hide. The cool side Hide should be no less than 78. If your cool side is less than you need a CHE to bump air temp to the 78-81.
I cant tell you how to go about this without knowing what size and kind of enclosure you have. Also the Heat mat needs to be on a Thermostat.....
And Ball Pythons go off food. Mine have gone off for up to 8 months never loosing more than 10-15 grams.


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