Slight Wrinkled PINK BELLY on bottom portion of my Ball Python snake

It's odd that your heat pad would only get to temps 70-80s I know mine used to get HOT.

That looks pretty sore and needs treated, If you don't sort your temperature immediately it's only going to get worse and you're going to have a pretty hefty Vet bill.
I'd turn the mat off and raise the temp of the room it's kept in till you get a thermostat sorted.

edit: I'd also get a digital thermometer with a probe so you can measure the temperature on the floor of the enclosure.

And buy some digital thermometers, they come in handy much better than those plastic/metal stick on ones!!!

Ball Pythons
0.3 Normals (Coilette, Athena and Mary Jane)
1.0 Spider Morph (Zeus)
1.0 Mojave (Prometheus)
1.0 Pastel (De Sol)

Boas
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Stella)
0.1 Hog Island BCI (Kiyoko)
0.1 Dumerils Boa (Gloria)
0.1 Yellow Anaconda (Serenity)

Yes I think my heating pad was unregulated b/c I relied on the thermometer.
I will get a dimmer switch and a new thermometer!
Poor Butters... I feel terrible! Now with his burn what should I do to treat it?

Walmart, indoor outdoor car thermometer- 6 bucks. Can tell you both surface (probe) and ambient (unit) temperature down to the 10th of a degree.

I've used lamp dimmers in a pinch for heat pads...they run about $10 at Home Depot or Lowes. It's definitely not the ideal solution but it's better than letting the UTH go unregulated. Mine got well into the 100's on the bottom of aquarium glass (though now everyone except one hognose is in a rack or tubs). http://www.lowes.com/pd_70717-539-TT...tt=lamp+dimmer

I have a few of these - http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...arm+thermostat Nice simple on/off thermostat. I'm gonna keep one as a backup for the rack thermostat.

Indoor/outdoor thermometer with a probe from Walmart - http://www.walmart.com/ip/Acu-Rite-I...mometer/896347

Best of luck with your snake! I haven't treated any burns yet so I'll let someone more experienced answer that.

what i do is put cardboard down over the heat pad, so even if it does get too hot, the snake wont absorb all the heat. if that makes any sense. i still have a thermostat. you could try doing that

First of all. Throw your thermometers away. All of them.

Then, go to Walmart/Lowe's/any store like that, and get digital thermoMETERS with probes. Place the probe inside of the cage, directly above the heat mat.

Next. Go to www.spyderrobotics.com and order a Herpstat. A Herpstat is a thermoSTAT which will regulate the heat pad. All heat pads need a thermostat, NOOOOO Ifs, Ands, Or Butts! The cost of the thermostat will be high, but it will likely be nothing in comparison to the vet bills if you don't regulate your heat source. A dimmer will do for a couple of days, but seriously. Get a thermostat and preferably a proportional one.

Take the thermostat probe and place it on the OUTSIDE of the enclosure, right on the heat source. Tape the probe wire, but not the actual probe. Adjust your thermoSTAT until your thermoMETER says 90.

Also, that burn will get much, much worse before it gets better. I am not entirely sure how to treat a burn without seeing a vet. I believe you need a prescription for silver sulfadine. DO NOT USE NEOSPORIN OR POLYSPORIN.

Also, put your snake on paper towel as substrate, if it isn't already.

Good luck with it, I really hope you can get him feeling better!

Poor Butters! But good on you for coming here and getting advice. Listen to these people!

I used a dimmer for a few weeks with my first snake. It was seriously annoying and frustrating. You MUST check direct heating pad temps multiple times daily, if your house temps fluctuate whatsoever.

I use nothing but Hydrofarm thermostats now, the first thermostat that was recommended to you. They aren't a huge investment, and they get the job done. :gj:

You need to get butters to a vet. Thermostats are very important, but if you cant afford one get a small reaptile heating pad. For my snakes I have a small heating pad and a small lamp so they have two friendly sources of heat versus one dangerous one.