Temp question

Yooo sorry to make a new thread but this is really annoying me...Is it ok if my ambient (cool side) temps are at around 73-75? I heard that this is too low? I live in upstate NY so its cold arund here, is there anything I can do or is this ok?

Well as of yesterday I would have said yes, that is too low. But then I came upon this post on repticzone.com...

"First, lets just nip a major misconception in the bud. Ball pythons do not dig heat. I know it’s hot in Africa. However there are ways to avoid heat pretty much anywhere where it is hot and ball pythons do just that. So these 90+ degree basking spots that most care sheets you will find are nothing more than regurgitated widespread misinformation. In the wild, they are mostly nocturnal during the hot summer months, spending their days in cool, humid burrows. Many of them are found on the breezy coastal plains where all they have to do is find a shady spot to stay cool. They do most of their moving around and hunting in the cool of the night. It doesn’t hurt to have a 90 degree basking spot as long as you have room for a highly varied gradient so they can escape it and enjoy temps that they actually prefer 70s and 80s. The more gradient you have, the happier and healthier your ball python will be."

If you still want to bump up temps you could always slap another UTH on.

p.s.
The info was written by a site administrator although the website was not given.

The cool side temperatures on my rack typically stay around 75-78 degrees. All of my snakes are fine, they thermoregulate normally and they all eat just great.

Ditto the info from anendeloflorien - ours is sometimes on the cool side and in the hide or next to it, or he/she is on the warm side "basking" or in the hide. Temps are high 70 - low 80s on the cool, and mid 80s - mid 90s on the hot (these are ambient and floor temps). Active when it is near feeding, or exploring, hiding most of the time with a nose out. In other words, moving to where he/she feels best...

ahhhhh interesting. Yeah cuz I hear so much back and forth about ambient temps its soo annoying. Where do you guys live to keep it at 80 degrees? I mean average homes are in the 70's in the winter right??

My ambient temp stays around 77F. Cool side hide is 82ish and hot side is 91F. I rarely see her exploring any more so I figure a tad low ambient temps are fine. Plus she can also go back to one of her hides to warm up.

I keep her in a tub which helps loads with ambient temps and my apartment stays around 72F. I get free heating so why not indulge? :banana:

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Originally Posted by dsmalex97

ahhhhh interesting. Yeah cuz I hear so much back and forth about ambient temps its soo annoying. Where do you guys live to keep it at 80 degrees? I mean average homes are in the 70's in the winter right??

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Well, the ambient temperature in my room is usually around 65-68 but I have racks for my BPs with belly heat which does a pretty good job of keeping both the hot spot temp and the ambient tub temperature up where it needs to be.

I think that the ambient temps are very important to keep in the low 80's. If you look at the temps in Ghana, it is always very warm to hot and so I beleive that the air temps are always quite warm. I would be concerned with ambients under 77F.

As for finding shade, yes, and yet the ground also stays warm from the constant warm temps and sunshine.

I keep my ambient temps up using radiant heat panels since where I live is cold and my house is kept chilly. I have not had a snake become ill with an RI (knock wood!) and I believe it is due to my temps beings kept within proper ranges (82 cool side and 93 warm side) and my ambient temps kept at 82F.

So, in essence, I disagree with the statement that a basking spot of 90F is "regurgitate widespread misinformation".

Just my thoughts....

As long as you have a nice basking spot and a good gradient it should be OK. If the snake is too cold it won't go to that side of the cage, or won't stay there too long.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by starmom

So, in essence, I disagree with the statement that a basking spot of 90F is "regurgitate widespread misinformation".

Just my thoughts....

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Yeah this thread has brought up lots of controversy on the other forum. Here's a link to it if you'd like to see it in its entirety. Just a warning though...its quite long.

http://repticzone.com/forums/BallPyt...s/1907720.html

the room the snakes are in stays at a consistant 70-73 range. I provide a 90-92 hot spot, how is it that all of your ambient temps stay above 80, and I'm lucky if mine can stay in the mid 70's? Are my thermometers in the wrong spot or something lol? I'm starting to feel kinda doumb here :confused: lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dsmalex97

the room the snakes are in stays at a consistant 70-73 range. I provide a 90-92 hot spot, how is it that all of your ambient temps stay above 80, and I'm lucky if mine can stay in the mid 70's? Are my thermometers in the wrong spot or something lol? I'm starting to feel kinda doumb here :confused: lol

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Well, it depends. What are you using for an enclosure? Usually tubs do a much better job of holding heat, some people (Starmom I think :D) do put some foam insulation around their racks to help hold even more heat in which I may try if it gets much colder where I am. IMO unless you want to have 2 separate UTHs running (with a thermostat for each) you're never really going to get the cool side temperatures where they need to be in a glass tank if the room is too cold, tanks just radiate heat out. The only other thing you could do is heat the entire room where the snake is to 80 degrees constantly with a space heater.

If you want to keep ambient temps up higher without adding another uth there are two options. Raise the room ambient temp (not a viable option for most people), or, insulate the enclosure.

I must disagree with anendeloflorien about glass enclosure heat loss. With proper insulation (three sides and top) and a good plexiglass cover, I can keep all my tank's temps right on the mark (although I prefer to keep them a bit cooler) with only warm side heat.

Hapa_Haole thank you so much for that link. That is THE best care sheet for BP's I have ever read. I sort-of came to all those same conclusions myself over time.

Right now I got them both in sterilite tubs, both with heat and thermostats. I'm gonna take pictures of where they are later so you can see exactly what im using.

I live in the high desert and even summer night time temps get to about 40F. Bummer. Anyway, I keep my ambient temps up with rigid pink insulation around the sides and also by using RHP's as the heat source :gj: