My first ball python

[FennSkee]

I recently acquired a new ball python at a reptile show this past weekend. This will be first reptile and I am extremely excited to have him! He is a male banana morph and was born late last year. I just had a few general questions as to caregiving. I've been doing a lot of research and I always end up with two sides of the story if you will.

1. I would like to know what types of substrate I should be using? I'm currently using a loose coconut fiber substrate with a carpet mat underneath. I am also running a reptile tank heater underneath (on one side of course) during the night when my lamp is off. Should I be concerned about burning the belly of my snake?

2. Also, should I use a heat lamp on one side of the tank on a 12/12 cycle? I've heard yes and no. If yes, what watt should I use and how do I keep my snake from accidental burns?

3. Should I spritz my tank daily in order to keep the humidity at a comfortable level? I have a humidity gauge coming in the mail.

4. When I feed my snake, what is the best way to keep him isolated so that I do not disturb him? I want him to have a comfortable set up so that he can digest his meal.

If there are any other tips or important information I would really appreciate the feedback. Thank you all very much.

[Regius_049]

1. I would like to know what types of substrate I should be using? I'm currently using a loose coconut fiber substrate with a carpet mat underneath. I am also running a reptile tank heater underneath (on one side of course) during the night when my lamp is off. Should I be concerned about burning the belly of my snake?

You should be using a thermostat with an under tank heater to monitor and control the temperature. 88-92 degrees is typically considered "ideal". For new ball pythons, I universally recommend paper towels. They are easy to change out and spot potential problems with a new animal.

2. Also, should I use a heat lamp on one side of the tank on a 12/12 cycle? I've heard yes and no. If yes, what watt should I use and how do I keep my snake from accidental burns?

You can put your snake one a day/night cycle. It is not required, but it won't hurt anything. I would use whatever wattage gives you an ambient around 76-80 degrees. Put the bulb outside the cage with screen or wire separating it from the snake. Alternatively, there are "in the enclosure" wire cagings that can be used with heat bulbs.

3. Should I spritz my tank daily in order to keep the humidity at a comfortable level? I have a humidity gauge coming in the mail.

I generally do not recommend spraying/misting enclosures designed to hold humidity unless you change paper towels regularly or allowed the enclosure to dry out entirely. Leaving constantly damp substrate makes for ideal conditions for mold and bacterial growth. I typically do not like to mist enclosures unless they dry out easily or are bio-active. I recommend increasing water bowl size or placing it under heat if you need more humidity.

4. When I feed my snake, what is the best way to keep him isolated so that I do not disturb him? I want him to have a comfortable set up so that he can digest his meal.

No need to overthink this. Once he eats just leave him be in his enclosure for 24-48 hours. Provided he has adequate temperatures, he will digest his meal just fine.

[PitOnTheProwl]

1. I would like to know what types of substrate I should be using? I'm currently using a loose coconut fiber substrate with a carpet mat underneath. I am also running a reptile tank heater underneath (on one side of course) during the night when my lamp is off. Should I be concerned about burning the belly of my snake?

This is the only one I am concerned with....... The reptile carpet does nothing but harbor bacteria and running a wide open unregulated heat mat is gambling on your animals health. Unplug it or but a lamp dimmer until you can get a thermostat...

[FennSkee]

Okay I have completely disconnected the UTH. I've only used it for one night. Im going to have to do some shopping tomorrow for the products I need as everything is closed down for the night. Can I use a space heater in the room to keep the ambient temperature above 75 degrees until I can get situated with more suitable equipment? The space heater is regulated. If i set it to 77 degrees, it wont let the temperature drop below 75 in the room. Also would a ceramic heater for my lamp fixture be more ideal? It is equipped to hold ceramic emitters.

[CALM Pythons]

Okay I have completely disconnected the UTH. I've only used it for one night. Im going to have to do some shopping tomorrow for the products I need as everything is closed down for the night. Can I use a space heater in the room to keep the ambient temperature above 75 degrees until I can get situated with more suitable equipment? The space heater is regulated. If i set it to 77 degrees, it wont let the temperature drop below 75 in the room. Also would a ceramic heater for my lamp fixture be more ideal? It is equipped to hold ceramic emitters.

The UTH isnt going to hurt the snake for now.. It is better than nothing at this point bro especially at night when its cold in Jan if your not South. Not sure what brand you have but ive used those for over 19 years and only in the last decade have normal hobbyists started using Thermometers and Thermostats to regulate a UTH.
I use Zoo med UTH's on spare 10 gal tanks and a 29 long that i use while Im cleaning the 3 big enclosures. Ive used my laser thermometer to check the UTH's themselves & (directly on them) its 113-115 degrees.. Well after it goes through the glass, through the carpet and the news paper its 91... Just make sure the tank isn't flat on the floor/table, if the UTH cant breath it can heat up to much, I tried that also and after 2 hours it raised the UTH to 124.
A ceramic heater is good yes, that way it wont bother them at night.
Your in good shape right now. Slow down, read up and then deside what to buy. There are so many options that you dont want to spend money on something you might decide not to go with next week.
Most people dont run glass terrariums anymore and the kind of Heating used in some enclosures wont work in others.. Take the week to read on here and go shopping on the weekend

[PitOnTheProwl]

After 5 mintes of running unregulated. I would run overhead before I took a chance with any of my animals. Includind the two I have that are scarred up fron running unregulated heat.

[Regius_049]

Okay I have completely disconnected the UTH. I've only used it for one night. Im going to have to do some shopping tomorrow for the products I need as everything is closed down for the night. Can I use a space heater in the room to keep the ambient temperature above 75 degrees until I can get situated with more suitable equipment? The space heater is regulated. If i set it to 77 degrees, it wont let the temperature drop below 75 in the room. Also would a ceramic heater for my lamp fixture be more ideal? It is equipped to hold ceramic emitters.

Using a space heater to warm the room to 77-79 would be perfectly fine as a temporary or long term solution. Many owners who have a lot of animals use this method as it is more cost efficient after a point.

A ceramic heat emitter essentially functions the same as a heat bulb, just emits no light and only heat. They still however heat the air and thus reduce humidity. Heat bulbs and ceramic heat emitters can be used for ball pythons, but extra care to maintain humidity will likely be necessary depending on your individual conditions and where you live.

Your optimal plan in the mean time would be probably to just use your space heater to heat the room to 77-79. A ball python will do fine in this temporarily. The "hot spot" is primarily used for thermoregulation associated with digestion, thus I would not feed your snake unless it has access to a hot spot, but your snake will certainly survive some time in the aforementioned temperatures.

Combination the information from the above posters, UTHs work well for the designed application. However, I would try and make sure the UTH isn't "sandwiched" between two flat surfaces. You want heat to be able to dissapate from the UTH outside the tub, so you don't build up heat in undesirable locations. I would consider what you want your "final" or "optimal" setup to be. Think about what you think is easiest for you and then begin to set that up, in my opinion, your best options for long term husbandry are:

(1) Use a combination of UTH and space heater - UTH provides hot spot of ~90 degrees and space heater keeps room at say 77 degrees. This is in my opinion, the easiest and most straightforward method.
(2) Use UTH in conjunction with a ceramic heat emitter or heat bulb. As above, use UTH for 90 degree hot spot and tailor your bulb wattage so an ambient of 77-80 degrees inside the cage is reached, then provide an appropriately sized water dish that gives you humidity between approximately 55-75% (higher is better).
(3) UTH in combination with a radiant heat panel or a radiant heat panel by itself. RHPs emit radiant heat making maintaining humidity easier, but getting the right combination of hot spot and ambient temperatures can be challenging.

A few notes on UTHs, as shown above, you might be fine running a UTH at 108 degrees. What is of concern is the hottest temperature reading inside the cage over the heater. Glass (compared to plastic) is a relatively poor thermocondunctor, so you will likely have to run your UTH hotter to get that 90 degree hot spot, but what that magic temperature is I could not say as I do not use glass enclosures for my snakes. I should point out to you that some UTHs are better than others, I don't like the zoomed ones because I have read many anecdotal reports of issues and they cannot be removed once attached to a tank. I would recommend giving these a look as they run cooler, can be removed, and are UL safety certified.

[FennSkee]

Thank you all for your inputs. I'm new at this and a lot of this information has helped. I'm going to weigh out my options with the information provided and figure out the best enclosure for my animal and myself. I'm also going to dive into other discussions and see what I can find. Thanks again. I'm looking forward to caring for my new BP!

[PitOnTheProwl]

A few notes on UTHs, as shown above, you might be fine running a UTH at 108 degrees.

I never said that was the final temperature, that was after 5 minutes. If I remember right the final high was around 135 degrees.