Quote Originally Posted by Pyrate81 View Post
Case in point(for everyone):

In my younger days when attempting to use a UTH without heat control and leaving it "open air", I came home to find my UTH hanging from the tank with a melted hole in the middle of it and sparking. After using the UTH for less than 60 days. Thankfully I had it set up the way I did so it didn't burn the animal nor actually come in contact with anything flammable.

For a time I thought UTHs were the devil until I finally did some research(thank you BP.net) about them and using a thermostat.
You got very lucky. I've seen some NASTY burns from heat pads (and lamps) that were not put on thermostats.

to the OP, ball pythons don't need UVB. If you insist on using a lamp, use a day light bulb for the day, and a red or black bulb for at night. I generally buy50 watt and put them on lamp dimmers (so you can control how hot the lamp is getting because they too get too warm). The UTH is really all you need on one side of the 20 gal. Just like Deborah said, make sure you have a thermostat that way it won't overheat and burn your snake. Trust me, paying the $30 for a thermostat is well worth it when you're looking at twice that (or more) on vet bills and creams to help a burn that you can easily prevent.

Another thing to note with the lamps, you will have a hard time maintaining humidity because the lamps suck out the moisture. I would recommend some kind of bark substrate (Reptibark, cypress mulch) or coco fiber (also called eco-earth) to help maintain that humidity. I would also cover part of the lid with a damp towel or plexi-glas to try and hold in as much humidity as you can...especially when they are in shed.