Leaving the heat light on 24/7?

I just got my BP and I have a red heat bulb light on him at one side. I have it on 24/7, but I'm wondering if the constant direct light bothers them? It's my only heat source at the moment.

I have a similar setup with a 10 gallon terrarium and one 75 watt red lamp run 24hrs. I've also used a black light bulb. My snake eats well, but she almost never comes out. I know a hiding BP is a happy BP but dang she stays in her hide with warm or cool for days at a time.

As long as it is blue or red bulb it should be fine. If it is a regular light, switch it out with a night time bulb so it doesn't bother them at night.

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Originally Posted by TheSnakeGuy

My snake eats well, but she almost never comes out. I know a hiding BP is a happy BP but dang she stays in her hide with warm or cool for days at a time.

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Do you feed her inside her enclosure? Do you have to sometimes have to leave the food for her and let her come out & get it on her own time or does she come out to eat?

I have the same "problem". My snake is so comfortable in his hide that he doesn't even come out. When I want to socialize with him and get him used to being handled, he's even more anti-social than before because you're disturbing his hide to get him out to play.

I want to have a snake that is comfortable being held and non-jumpy around people, but it's almost like providing these hides is working against taming him out.

My little girl likes being handled just fine. She's never refused a meal either. I just pick up the hide from on top of her and in a minute she strikes a mouse and eats like a champ.

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Originally Posted by Greekinese

Do you feed her inside her enclosure? Do you have to sometimes have to leave the food for her and let her come out & get it on her own time or does she come out to eat?

I have the same "problem". My snake is so comfortable in his hide that he doesn't even come out. When I want to socialize with him and get him used to being handled, he's even more anti-social than before because you're disturbing his hide to get him out to play.

I want to have a snake that is comfortable being held and non-jumpy around people, but it's almost like providing these hides is working against taming him out.

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Isn't your snake still fairly young? If so, this behavior is completely normal. You are a predator to them. It is only natural for them to be scared when you are handling them.

Eventually they will calm down and be much more relaxed. Denying them hides is not going to help "tame" them. If anything, it would make it worse.

I have all my Bps in a rack system and very few of them get hides. Maybe a piece of paper to hide under. They are hiding 90% of the time, the other 10% being at night or around feeding time.

Yeah, only 9 months old, but if he's staying in his hide the whole time, how's he going to tame out later?
Maybe I oughta just let him hide and hope that eventually he'll get braver and come out and see I don't wanna eat him hehe.

The only problem I've found with leaving a blacklight heat bulb on 24/7 is that it sucks humidity like nothing else. With some sealing of the lid and managing the dimmer on the lamp, I've found a perfect sweet spot for the humidity. He's out more often than he has been in the past, with all his temps just right and humidity at a constant 40. The lamp is more for ambient temps, as his UTH provides him with belly heat.

I use a black night time heating lamp in my 10 gal. tank and I leave it on all the time, because I know it will get too cold if I don't..at least until Spring/Summer weather finally kicks in anyway. :rolleyes: Any who, while we're on the topic of heating lamps, I have a question regarding how long your lamps usually last. I bought a bulb when I bought my first BP a couple months ago and it deciding to go out on me while I was sleeping a couple days ago. I woke up and saw that the temp had dropped to the 60's. :( I thankfully had a second bulb on hand and replaced it right away. I'm just curious if this is about how long I should expect my bulbs to last? Just a couple months?

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Originally Posted by TheSnakeGuy

My little girl likes being handled just fine. She's never refused a meal either. I just pick up the hide from on top of her and in a minute she strikes a mouse and eats like a champ.

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How old is she? How long did you leave her in the hide before handling her?
She wasn't always thrilled about being handled I'm sure...can you (or others) describe the process of taking a shy/scared young snake and getting them comfortable with you when all they wanna do is be left alone in their hide?

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Originally Posted by Greekinese

Yeah, only 9 months old, but if he's staying in his hide the whole time, how's he going to tame out later?
Maybe I oughta just let him hide and hope that eventually he'll get braver and come out and see I don't wanna eat him hehe.

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Get used to it. It is a ball python and they are happiest when they are hiding. If you want to handle your snake, don't wait for it to come out. Just lift the hide, let the snake know you are there and scoop it up. Easy.

Change doesn't happen overnight. Eventually the snake will get used to the fact that you are going to pick it up. It will relax as it gets older.

Why do you think the snake needs to come out of its hides in order to be tame? This is the behavior of this particular species. They are very docile because they are so shy and like to hide themselves. Thus why I don't keep them in displays.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

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Originally Posted by Greekinese

How old is she? How long did you leave her in the hide before handling her?
She wasn't always thrilled about being handled I'm sure...can you (or others) describe the process of taking a shy/scared young snake and getting them comfortable with you when all they wanna do is be left alone in their hide?

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IMHO, the more you take them out and handle them, the better, as long as it's in a gentle, friendly way. The less you handle them, the more they'll dislike being handled. I saw this when I worked as a zookeeper volunteer at this one zoo. The large retics, for example, were never removed from their enclosures (they were deemed too big at 15-ft.), and over time they became virtually wild and would strike at anyone who got near. We would put our foot out for them to strike at until they grew tired, then we'd grab a head, pull them out, put them in the grass somewhere, and I think they loved being outside in the fresh air. They became easier to handle until we stopped volunteering (and I'm sure they're wild again since no one else gets them out).

So I think just being in your hands or on your arms acclamates them to human contact. Over time I think they'll enjoy it and be far less likely to bite or freak out when removed from their enclosure.

Thanks for the feedback, guess it's time for some tough love hehe.
Since this is my 1st bp (or snake for that matter), it's a learning process for me too.

I have to overcome my fear of getting tagged while he gets over his fear of me hehe.

Red bulbs are fine for 24 hour heat source you want to stay away from daylight bulbs these are not a good 24 hr heat source. BP are nocturnal and need a night and day cycle.
red bulbs are good for night viewing and will not effect night/day cycle. You should look into a under tank heater BP need belly heat, it helps break down and Digest their Food.
Be carefull with all heat sources as they can become too hot if not controlled with a thermostat or rheostat etc.

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Originally Posted by Steve-o M

Red bulbs are fine for 24 hour heat source you want to stay away from daylight bulbs these are not a good 24 hr heat source. BP are nocturnal and need a night and day cycle.
red bulbs are good for night viewing and will not effect night/day cycle. You should look into a under tank heater BP need belly heat, it helps break down and Digest their Food.
Be carefull with all heat sources as they can become too hot if not controlled with a thermostat or rheostat etc.

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My only issue is that my bedroom is the only available room in the house where I can put my brand new BP, and that heat lamp does keeps things warm in the room. I love sleeping at night with my window air conditioner on, but I'm afraid I'll negate the effects of the heat lamp if I turn it on. :colbert: Oh well - I always have my ceiling fan.