New to ball pythons! Need help with how to measure hot spot temp!

Personally, I found glass to be far too quirky and it was far harder to maintain temps and humidity at an appropriate level so I made the switch to tubs. I have no issues with temps at all now.

If you're as stressed as I was in the beginning, I'd suggest going to Walmart tomorrow and buying a size appropriate, lockable tub that you can make into your snakes new home. Use 1 layer of paper towel as substrate, mist the lid once a day and you'll be fine.

I use lamp dimmers on my heat mats and it works perfectly.

could i reuse the heat pad i have now? are they hard to take off

all my temp and humidity are all great. but my only problem right now is the glass temp, which is apparently way too hot... but i haven't seen my ball ever dig any holes or burrow at all. she loves to just go in there and sit. I can keep the substrate surface temp of hot spot at 89-92. if i don't need to worry about the glass (directly above UTH) temp, that thats gonna save me alot of trouble. My substrate for the hot spot area is about 1/2 inch

Generally you're not supposed to peel them off and reuse them. However, I know someone who did once and she doesn't have issues with it.

What I do with my mats, is pout the sticky side down on a sheet of tin foil, trim it up and just tape it to the bottom of the tub. Makes it super easy to switch to bigger tubs later.

You could do this and I'm sure it'd be fine. Just monitor temps closely for the first few days to make sure they're stable.

Honestly, in my opinion I would use paper towels for substrate, easy to maintain and easy to keep track of the temperature... I currently have a tank with my BP in it with paper towels and monitoring the temperature with the small layer of paper towels is pretty close to the glass temperature... I keep mine around 88 I have a UTH with a hydrofarm thermostat to monitor it... And I keep my humidity at around 45-55 with the aluminum foil covering most of the screen top I can reach levels of about 65-75 when I spray the inside with warm water.. Maybe switching substrates would make things easier...

Lol, yeah, I guess switching the substrate would help too haha.
I know shavings and Eco earth are more esthetically pleasing, but sometimes practicality wins over. I used to be an aspen shavings girl, but cleaning and monitoring their bathroom habits are just easier with paper towels.

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Originally Posted by timely.grace

Lol, yeah, I guess switching the substrate would help too haha.
I know shavings and Eco earth are more esthetically pleasing, but sometimes practicality wins over. I used to be an aspen shavings girl, but cleaning and monitoring their bathroom habits are just easier with paper towels.

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Lol exactly it looks nicer I wouldn't mind having it but just not as simple and practical as a few paper towels hehe

my hot spot temp is at about a steady 89 right now. the glass might be like 100 or so but is that something to worry about? im almost positive my ball python doesn't burrow or dig or anything, she just goes in there and lays for long periods of time on the surface.

i have probably more than 1/2 inch eco earth substrate on top of it so its not easy to push into the glass

she also weighs 165g if that helps any

I wouldn't be okay with "almost positive."
On the off chance that she does burrow, she will burn her belly. Go buy some paper towels and ease your mind lol. Far cheaper, anyway :rolleye2:

ill give it a try forsure. wat do u think i should do for tonight tho? and is burrowing common for ball pythons? im actually positive she doesn't burrow but she loves to tap her head on the glass and "sniff" around.. but ive only had her since last wednesday haha