Ball python enclosure heating

The problem with an enclosure that big + heat pads is they can be tricky. A heat mat (or flexwatt, or a head pad, w/e you want to call it) will have to get fairly hot in order to penetrate the bottom PVC AND the substrate. It's also not very good at adjusting your ambient temperature, so unless you keep the room it's in at around 80º year round then the rest of the enclosure will likely get too cold. If you're going to use one, I'd use them WITH one of these other options to help bring the hot spot where it needs to be... But not just by itself (Again, unless you just have the whole room it's in heated to ~80º)

Like other people have suggested, a radiant heat panel is probably the way to go. ProProducts and VE make RHP's specifically designed for reptile enclosures. It's also possible to retrofit other heat panels to work in a snake cage. VE/PP heat panels will probably run you around $100 give or take, but are designed to mount to the top of the enclosure and be used with a thermostat. Other heat panels you can get for around $40-50, but they aren't designed to be used in a snake enclosure so you'll have to figure out for yourself how to mount and how to attach your thermostat probe (And in most cases, that'll mean building a way to mount it or attach the probe). Also, VE/PP panels are usually under warranty, where other heat panels probably wouldn't be honored (since you're not using them for their intended purpose).

Deep Heat Projectors and Ceramic Heat Emitters are also options. They're lightless heat sources and do a decent job at giving you a hot spot + thermal gradient. Depending on the ambient temperature of the room you have it set up in, you may need 2 (1 on the warm side, 1 on the cool, both controlled by their own thermostat probe). CHE's are by far your cheapest option, tho they're known to dry out enclosures rather quickly. RHP's aren't too expensive (~$30), but you need a good thermostat to run them on (They'll burn out quickly on an analog (on/off) or pulse proportional thermostat, so you need a dimming thermostat). In both cases you'll have to either cut out part of the top of the enclosure so you can hook up lamps, or install light fixtures inside the enclosure itself (and add some sort of wire caging to make sure a snake can't touch the heat source directly).

Side note about heat mats: If you were going to switch out some of the bottom material of the enclosure, I'd do it with some sort of metal. A thin sheet of metal will be much safer than a pane of glass, conduct the heat better, and even be thinner (meaning you'll have to raise the enclosure up less to ensure heat doesn't get trapped between the enclosure, heating mat, and w/e you're putting the enclosure on). It's also a lot easier to attach, replace, etc... Just my 2 cents tho :)

Thanks,
That's a lot of useful information, especially about using 2 overhead heat sources.

Rhp is all you need. No need for the uth

Hello everyone I have a female ball python that i kept in my brothers room and she didn’t usually try to get out only once in a while you know so ive had her for about a year and a half now and that whole time her cage has always been in my brothers room and a couple days ago i moved her cage to my room and now all i see her doing is trying to get out. She always slithers along the side of the cage and puts her head to the top of the cage and tries to push it up. Also when she was in my brothers room i never really seen her at night so i dont know if she has always did this or if its something new but my brother said he would see her doing it alot when she was in his room too but im not sure it might be a new thing Any advice or thoughts? would be highly appreciated thanks family!

Hello everyone I have a female ball python that i kept in my brothers room and she didn’t usually try to get out only once in a while you know so ive had her for about a year and a half now and that whole time her cage has always been in my brothers room and a couple days ago i moved her cage to my room and now all i see her doing is trying to get out. She always slithers along the side of the cage and puts her head to the top of the cage and tries to push it up. Also when she was in my brothers room i never really seen her at night so i dont know if she has always did this or if its something new but my brother said he would see her doing it alot when she was in his room too but im not sure it might be a new thing Any advice or thoughts? would be highly appreciated thanks family!

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Originally Posted by JuniorFTW

Hello everyone I have a female ball python that i kept in my brothers room and she didn’t usually try to get out only once in a while you know so ive had her for about a year and a half now and that whole time her cage has always been in my brothers room and a couple days ago i moved her cage to my room and now all i see her doing is trying to get out. She always slithers along the side of the cage and puts her head to the top of the cage and tries to push it up. Also when she was in my brothers room i never really seen her at night so i dont know if she has always did this or if its something new but my brother said he would see her doing it alot when she was in his room too but im not sure it might be a new thing Any advice or thoughts? would be highly appreciated thanks family!

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BP's are nocturnal so they're always going to be more active at night.

Double check everything in the enclosure (Temps, humidity, etc.)... She might be trying to escape because it's too hot/cold. It's possible during the move a thermostat probe got moved or maybe the temp in your room is just different than the temp in your brothers (Even if you have central ac/heating, temps can vary from room to room just based on what else is in the room).

It could also just be because... Well... She moved :P Even if it's in the same house there's still slightly different sounds/sights/smells, so if everything checks out and temps/humidity are where they should be then I wouldn't worry about it.