first BP need heat advise

Damn 55gallon for a 16inch snake.. that's a lot of glass

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

New tank. 15-20 gallon. Uth and thermostat is all you pretty much need. My humidity was reading really high at 80% in my tank and it was way wrong. I switched to digital and it was only 20% my snake was dehydrating.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

yup thermometers are way off I now have 3 thermometers and two humidistats. the digital humidistat is reading 72, but the petco one that sticks on the glass is reading 50. The digital all living things thermostat is reading 96.4 and the petco anolog that sticks to the side is reading 90 and it is at the top of the cage near the heat light and another digital is about 2 inches from the all living things one and it is reading 77 degrees. WTH who makes the best thermometer?

1. First things first, since this is your first BP please check this threads they will help you:
- Ball Python Care Sheet
- BP Husbandry FAQs
- How To Set Up A Glass Tank (With Pictures)

2. 55g is way too big for a 16 inches bp, it can be done but it's an uphill battle and most of the times, sooner or later, the snake will "force" you to change into something smaller until he is big enough. Please consider changing to something smaller first (tub or tank). If you decide to not go with something smaller just know that your husbandry will need to be spot on (which will be its own battle) and that tank will need to really be cluttered for it to work.

3. It looks like you are just ignoring the advice Deborah and Pit* are giving you. Please, at least, consider what they are saying. They are giving you some solid advice and as Deborah said, with this circumstances and this setup, these issues are just the beginning.

4. Regarding the questions on your initial post:
- You can use 2 light bulbs, 1 for day, other for night, or you can go with red bulbs (that can be on day and night) or, better yet, a CHE (they don't emit any light just heat).
- You NEED a thermostat to regulate those lamps/heat sources, don't use them unregulated. Until you get one, unplug the lamps or use a dimmer, that way you can have some control over the temperature. Get some good thermometers, hygrometers and a temp gun to help you measure the temperature and humidity inside your enclosure. I'll assume you are in the US so I'll let the US folks over here recommend you some good thermometers, hygrometers and temp guns (stick-ons and analogs are as good as you just guessing).
- Humidity should be between 40%-60% most of the time, bump it to 70%-80% during shed.

5. Thermostats regulate the temperature, Thermometers measure the temperature. Hygrostats regulate the humidity, Hygrometers read the humidity.


*Deborah, Pit and other users. I just mentioned them because I've seen them giving solid advice and saving peoples asses countless times.

So have you thought of getting a smaller enclosure? One of the reasons they recomend it is so the snake feels more safe and secure. If balls get stressed they starve themselves etc.
I think a 250 watt bulb is too high. Please tell me you bought a thermostat as well. Even the 150 can get too high on one side of the tank without a thermostat.
For heat lamps you use infrared bulbs and full spectrum bulbs.