How important is ambient temp?

I recently adopted a baby ball python from someone who couldnt have her in their apartment. I am using a tub setup without a rack with two hides, one on the heated side and one on the cool side. The tub holds humidity well, but I am worried about the ambient temp in the tub. Right now I have a zoo med UTH covering about 1/3 of the bottom of the tub, and a space heater heating the room as hot as I can get it.So my question is, how important is ambient heat compared to belly heat? Is it necessary to heat the entire room, or would she be ok in a room temperature room (around 70 degrees) with just a heat pad to lay on? Ive watched many videos and some people make it seem like all they need is a UTH because they only need belly heat, others seem to completely disagree so I am very confused on this subject. Thanks in advance.

While a UTH won't do much for the ambient in the tub, if you have a hide over it then the ambient air temp under the hide will bump up a decent amount.

Putting a small towel or baby blanket over the tub also helps hold in the heat.

70F is a little low for ambient temp. I keep all my gals and guy at around 78-79F ambient on the cool side. The room they are in is kept around 75-76F. The coolest I would want my ambient to get is 75F.

Inside her hide the temp is around 83 degrees, outside her hide the temp is around 74. Is that too cold for a hot spot?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by allnightlong22

Inside her hide the temp is around 83 degrees, outside her hide the temp is around 74. Is that too cold for a hot spot?

---

What is your thermostat set at and hat are you using to measure the temperature?

set at 90, using a probe thermometer/hygrometer from petsmart.

Digital or Analogue?

Digital.

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h1...psqcouxfgn.jpg

Make sure you are getting temperature under the substrate. They can and will burrow.

You can use another uth and thermostat for the rest of the tub and set it so it's around 80 under substrate, I have used this method for 3 snakes and currently still do with 1 (rest switched to rhp) and I have not had any problems and my house stays at 60-65 all year around. Plus using another uth for cool side would be cheaper than running a space heater. Make sure you are taking the temp of your uth under the substrate right against bottom of tub over uth and that it is no hotter than 94 but 92 would be better so you have wiggle room, if your using paper towels then set it so it's 90 under the paper towel.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

I wouldn't like my ambient temps to be that low. One solution maybe to adjust your house thermostat if possible, also check your room to see if you have 2 AC vents or one, because you can close one to raise the ambient temperature a bit if you have two.

I taped the probe to the bottom of the plastic tub where the UTH is and under the paper towel, reading 87 now. I think I am going to need a separate UTH/thermostat for the other side. Thanks guys!