Is there an alternative for a heater/CHE?

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

Not sure where you live but I would at least monitor your ambient temps in your room. If you feed your ball python and your temps go below 80F it could kill your snake, this is especially true with colubrids, if you feed them a few weeks before hibernation they can't get rid of the food in their system and will die. Not sure what the minimum temps are for ball pythons but I would imagine it's around 80F, especially since you don't have a hotspot. Most snakes will eat and then sit on the hot spot (90F) to digest. You could get a heat tape and thermostat and plug them into a 'Kill a Watt' to monitor your electricity usage, I'm guessing it wouldn't be more than a couple bucks a month. Ambient temps should go no lower than the mid 70's. Ideally a room temp of 82 is perfect, but heating the room would be more expensive than a heat tape and thermostat. If your room is cold (mid 70s) it's probably OK since the snake will just hang out over the hot spot all day. If you can afford it I'd also get another heat lamp and a separate thermostat to keep your 'cold side' at 80F. If your room goes down into the 60s I'd say you have a serious problem. Or if you live in the tropics near the equator you may not have an issue LOL.

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And to add a little more, even though it is probably not relevant in this situation, cooling is just as important as heating. Those of us in warm climates have to contend with indoor temperature spikes. I spend far more effort and money cooling than I do heating. My ac died this summer and I ended up having to pay through the nose to get a new one immediately. Temps easily reach 95 inside my house in the summer without AC. Heat will kill a ball faster than cold will.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

And to add a little more, even though it is probably not relevant in this situation, cooling is just as important as heating. Those of us in warm climates have to contend with indoor temperature spikes. I spend far more effort and money cooling than I do heating. My ac died this summer and I ended up having to pay through the nose to get a new one immediately. Temps easily reach 95 inside my house in the summer without AC. Heat will kill a ball faster than cold will.

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Ok, is there a way to keep a certain area cool easily? I'm basically a newb to keeping BPs

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Originally Posted by Tonald Drump

I have, my dad thinks because he had a snake once that he knows ALL about them. Oh, he basically knows nothing imo. He thinks I shouldn't take the time to warm up water for a bath, just use freezing cold water. "It's fine, he doesn't take baths in warm water in the wild, does he?" Itvs because of this behavior that I can't make a proper enclosure for my snake.

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In this case both of you are a little off in practice. There is no need to give a ball python a bath. They do not like it one bit and there is no benefit to it that cannot be accomplished with a damp cloth.

Explain to your parents that balls are tropical snakes. Their temp requirements are very narrow. A body temp between 84 and 88 is ideal. Being outside of that for too long is courting illness and or death. A vet trip plus medicine to treat a respiratory infection is going to cost more than setting up the environment correctly to begin with.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

In this case both of you are a little off in practice. There is no need to give a ball python a bath. They do not like it one bit and there is no benefit to it that cannot be accomplished with a damp cloth.

Explain to your parents that balls are tropical snakes. Their temp requirements are very narrow. A body temp between 84 and 88 is ideal. Being outside of that for too long is courting illness and or death. A vet trip plus medicine to treat a respiratory infection is going to cost more than setting up the environment correctly to begin with.

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Yes, I'm aware, I clean him with a cloth dipped in warm water. But, he insists cold water is fine. They also think that the effect of a heat gradient in the enclosure can be achieved by... letting the snake bask for an hour a day.

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Originally Posted by Tonald Drump

Yes, I'm aware, I clean him with a cloth dipped in warm water. But, he insists cold water is fine. They also think that the effect of a heat gradient in the enclosure can be achieved by... letting the snake bask for an hour a day.

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Ball pythons are not basking snakes. They are nocturnal.

If you can't provide the proper husbandry for the snakes, rehome them to someone who can.

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Originally Posted by Tonald Drump

Ok, is there a way to keep a certain area cool easily? I'm basically a newb to keeping BPs

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In my case I set my central AC at 86 durring the day and 84 at night. This is the easiest. Alternatives are good air circulation combined with evaporation. A ball that is getting too hot for their liking will often wrap around their water bowl since it is generally cooler than the surrounding air due to evaporation. You can also cover part of the tank with a damp towel which will bring temps down a bit.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

Ball pythons are not basking snakes. They are nocturnal.

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Yes, I'm aware, and that's what I've been trying to tell them. Btw the things I mentioned earlier was offtopic, just to show how cocky my dad is

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

In my case I set my central AC at 86 durring the day and 84 at night. This is the easiest. Alternatives are good air circulation combined with evaporation. A ball that is getting too hot for their liking will often wrap around their water bowl since it is generally cooler than the surrounding air due to evaporation. You can also cover part of the tank with a damp towel which will bring temps down a bit.

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Thanks a lot! (no sarcasm intended, I'm serious)

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I second that if you are unable to provide adequate conditions for a ball python to live in and not just survive for whatever reason, you should do the right thing and surrender them before you end up frustrated and guilty feeling because something unwanted happened.

You must provide minimum condition for temperature and humidity. If you cannot provide that externally via the temps in your house then you must provide it through heating means in the enclosure.

What you are doing now is causing harm to these snakes and how you keep them now will not be conditions that are survivable. These are not temperate climate species like some corn snakes, they are subtropic snakes that require a specific range of temperature that the vast majority of people can not provide simply by being lucky enough to live in a region of the world that mimics their native conditions.