heating

the last few days my ball pythons cage has been really cold. I use a 75 watt red light at night but when the light isn't on the temp drops to 65 or 70. How can I keep it warmer? And also, he hasn't pooped in a while... does that have anything to do with his temp being to low?

i think a heat mat with a thermostat would be a good idea. they poop like once every week or two...whens the last time yours pooped?

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Originally Posted by reptile_lover07

the last few days my ball pythons cage has been really cold. I use a 75 watt red light at night but when the light isn't on the temp drops to 65 or 70. How can I keep it warmer? And also, he hasn't pooped in a while... does that have anything to do with his temp being to low?

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If the temp drops when the light isn't on....then why not just turn it on??? What are the temps while the light is on? How are you measuring those temps? 65-70 is far too cold and if it continues too long may very well lead to a very sick snake.

Consistently low temps may lead to a drastic slow-down in their already slow metabolism, and that could lead to a long stretch between poops. But even healthy snakes kept at the proper temps can go for weeks without defecating.

I have one. And he hasn't pooped in almost a month

When it's on the temps are 80-90.

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Originally Posted by reptile_lover07

When it's on the temps are 80-90.

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Then why not just leave it on all the time? Why turn it off and allow the temps to drop to such dangerous levels?

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Originally Posted by reptile_lover07

And he hasn't pooped in almost a month

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how long was it that he last ate? becouse from my educated guess they wont poop unless they have eaten due to not having anything to pass.

They also require belly heat to aid in digestion. If the temps are that cool, he's not digesting properly, so it's no surprise he hasn't defecated.


You need a UTH on a thermostat on at all times, and you need to keep your cool side temps no lower than 80 (24 hours a day) and the warm side no lower than 90 (24 hours a day).

As has already been asked - what do you use to measure your temperatures?

I have a UTH. and I have a digital thermometer.

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Originally Posted by reptile_lover07

When it's on the temps are 80-90.

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Originally Posted by JLC

Then why not just leave it on all the time? Why turn it off and allow the temps to drop to such dangerous levels?

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I'm still confused.

I don't know if I can leave it on all the time without it burning the screen.

is the screen wood? then it might burn. a metal mesh screen is on going to burn. maybe paint or dust on the cage... but not the screen.

Right. A real wire screen top won't burn...even when you put a really high watt bulb on it. Wood tops or simple nylon screen is a different story.

what do you mean a real wire screen top?

Made of metal I suspect.




dr del

Sorry :) I meant wire tops for tanks, such as Tough Top and ZooMed screen covers. Those were made to withstand the heat from reptile lamps. If your screen is a homemade top of nylon or aluminum mesh, then it would at least warp under the heat if not melt. In that case, you should hang or clip the lamp over the screen about 6 inches for a basic 20gal. At least, that's the height I was told to keep it at, if I'm wrong PLEASE correct me all you herpers out there.

I'll try that. And my friend suggested that I put a towel over half of the cold side to keep some heat in the cage. Would that work?

Best thing to do to retain heat and humidity would be to set your top up like the one in this sticky

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=32800

I followed that setup and it works perfectly. :)

Good luck.

Hi again,


Have you had a look at the glass tank setup sticky?

There might be some ideas in there that could help.:)

**edit**

I am waaay to slow again I see. :D

**end edit**

dr del

My sister has a setup similar to that for her tree frogs except she uses a different substrate and she used Glad press and seal wrap.

I just checked the temperature in her cage and it's right around 90. I think I'll try that.

Thanks for all your help.

:D No problem...that's what we're here for

I have a question about heating too.

Is it ok to leave the blue moonlight light on all night?
it keeps the temp about 80-85 86 plus the UTH at night.
During the day..it gets about 90-95 100..is that to high?
Also...my bp likes to sleep in his hide on the cool side all the time
no matter how cold or hot it is, he does have 2 little hide things on both
sides. Is there somthing wrong?

Well...once again I say I am NO expert, but here's what I've learned so far:

It's fine to leave a night lamp on all night, in fact in colder months it could be recommended.

95-100 is too hot. If you don't already have a thermostat (I forget if I saw you say that or not here) Get One! :) In the meantime have the UTH on a rheostat to keep those numbers closer to 90.

My little girl spends about 90% of her time in the cool side too. I know she moves over from time to time cause I see the trails in the cypress. You probably just don't see yours move over, but they do. It's like they know when you're not around...

Ok thanks...it only really goes up to 95-100 when i spray some water around to make it alittle humid. because if i dont do it...its pretty dry..so i donno what to do...i dont want to turn off the light. but other then that everythings really good.