Question..

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Originally Posted by auhsojnacnud

...I also have a heat rock...

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No. What you have is a rock. If by "designed to never get too hot" you mean that it follows the laws of physics, then yes - you're right. Marketing geniuses!;)

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Originally Posted by auhsojnacnud

...OR even safer, put a thermostat on it...

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Can't put a thermostat on something inside the enclosure. :)

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

No. What you have is a rock.

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Hahaha - this made me laugh.

I have also used this method for my milk snakes. Just put a normal rock on top of their heat mats (so only glass as a barrier). They loved to wrap around it.

OP, I noticed you said that people didn't like your lamp. Can I ask why? Looks like you have a red one, which is fine. You may be even better to go with a Ceramic Heat Emitter (CHE) which is available at most pet stores and looks exactly like a lightbulb (but without the light!) Ball Pythons don't really need a day/night cycle or even a nightly drop in temperature. A CHE is nice because you can regulate it and just leave it on all the time. Mine's a 150 watt, but I only have it running around 60% power. Combined with my UTH, temps are perfect.

I use rheostats, but most people here will recommend thermostats. And I agree with them, but if you are -CAREFUL- then rheostats can work okay in a room with a consistent temperature.
Always clearly mark the "perfect" setting on your rheostat so that if you accidentally bump it, you can fix it immediately.

Just my two cents - best of luck!

You are always going to find people who never had a problem with any product and swear by it. You need to look at the overall. I have seen way more injuries due to heat rocks than any other heat source. I believe this is due do them being easily sold and marketed as for reptiles, but you still have a heating element that the snake can wrap itself around, with the cheapest components to regulate them, if they are regulated at all, and I have never seen one with a fail safe.

Another common one that I see cause injury is heat lamps inside the cage, obviously the snake touches it and gets burned. Most people seem to realize this danger and avoid it, but then there are people who think the snake will recognize it as too hot to touch. I see it most often with custom built cages and they didn't know how else to heat it. You will still find people that swear they never had an issue heating this way also.

A UTH with a thermostat is generally accepted as a pretty safe way of heating, UTH is placed outside the cage and heated through the cage, they are just laminated heating elements, not really many parts to fail. the thermostat regulates it and if you get a good thermostat, it will also have a fail safe of some sort. Some even have alarms for over or under temperatures and such. Some thermostats off benefits unrelated to safety, like the ability to night drop for breeding. Makes them an easy choice for almost anyone imo.

Another battle you are going to have with the glass tank is humidity. Chances are you are going to want to cover up most of the screen top, as most people have to to maintain humidity and heat. UTH do way less damage on humidity then any other heat source either, since they aren't as hot. You can try using just the UTH and see where your temp gradient falls, generally you want the hottest spot 90-94 and the coldest spot around 80. in glass tanks the uth alone has a hard time heating that cold side up in a lot of houses, so something else might be needed. You'll have to see what works for you.

If you have any other questions or still have issues, ask the forum, way too much experience that is willing to help on this board to really go anywhere else. also in case you missed it, check out the link that was posted above http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-With-Pictures! It will give you good base to start from.

Thank you y'all i do appreciate the advice i've been getting from this forum! I have already unplugged and taken the rock out, i will be returning it shortly. Within the next few weeks i am going to do the UTH, as of the moment my tank is in perfect heating conditions so i think it'll be okay for now. I also do cover half the screen up to help control the humidity. But thanks again y'all!

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

Can't put a thermostat on something inside the enclosure. :)

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Why not? If you have a hole in the lid big enough for the chord why not?

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Originally Posted by auhsojnacnud

Why not? If you have a hole in the lid big enough for the chord why not?

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The probe for the thermostat needs to be in contact with the hottest part of the heating element without possibility of it being moved, getting wet, or otherwise. Inside of the enclosure those things are guaranteed to happen. Proper placement for a probe, if you are using belly heat, is sandwiched on the outside of the enclosure between the heat source and the bottom of the enclosure. This takes all of the previous problems out of the equation and you will have reliable control over your heat source.

I should clarify, however. I'm strictly talking about the probe for a belly heat type element. There are perfectly good ways to use a thermostat probe inside of the enclosure if you're using it for things like controlling radiant heat panels or heat bulbs.