What do you think about this...

[LAWReptiles]

I've just recently got a new room, completely dedicated to my ball pythons. my racks have no heat tape. Because I can keep the room at a controlled climate. I use a ceramic fan heater, with lamps in the room to keep the whole room at temps instead of using flexwatt etc. The ambient in the room is about 85F and the tubs stay right around 82F with 45-50% humidity. So I was just wondering what you all think about just keeping a whole snake room at a controlled climate

[blackcrystal22]

Honestly? I'm not too sure. I think that some large scale breeders do it, but I also think that it might not be warm enough without an area of the cage at 90 degrees.

Hm..

[Argentra]

Sounds nice... but I, too, wouldn't like having enclosures without a gradient. They need that difference to regulate body temps and they need the warmer spot to digest properly.

[NextWorldExotics]

It might work, but you really need a temp gradient. They need to thermoregulate. They need to be able to get warmer or cooler when they want. Also it will be tough in the breeding season when you have babies, juvys and adults in there. You wont want to cool the babies or juvys...

[LAWReptiles]

I should have made my self more clear.. I run the heater on high in the day time.. and usually stays about 88-89... at night i turn it down.. and it drops to about 82. Also, there are cooler and hotter spots in the tubs.. The area at the back of the rack with less airflow and the water stays a bit cooler... but the area facing outwards towards the heat stay abit warmer.. not much.. like 3-5 F warmer/cooler

[jonf]

It can be done. There are some very successful breeders who just work off of ambient temps. I agree with Jon though about the breeding part..........when you go to cool down adults, you'll be inadvertently cooling down the babies and juvi's so at the very least you should either heat the hatchling/juvi racks or keep them in another heated area.

I've raised a few generations on just ambient heat and they have done perfectly. They eat,shed,defecate,breed,ovulate,lay eggs,etc.......all perfectly without heat tape under one side of the enclosure. So it can definitely be done. I'm also not a huge producer by any means so I don't really have the numbers or statistics to compare otherwise (like how many females held onto their eggs longer in enclosures that had heat tape.......things of that nature). I'd probably get eggs sooner if I had them on heat tape. I usually get eggs about 35+ days after the pre-lay sheds while others can get into the low 30's or even under 30 days.

Maybe in the future I'll go to belly heat for the adults. I'd really like some freedom breeder or ARS racks but they aren't giving them away yet...........

[JLC]

I've just recently got a new room, completely dedicated to my ball pythons. my racks have no heat tape. Because I can keep the room at a controlled climate. I use a ceramic fan heater, with lamps in the room to keep the whole room at temps instead of using flexwatt etc. The ambient in the room is about 85F and the tubs stay right around 82F with 45-50% humidity. So I was just wondering what you all think about just keeping a whole snake room at a controlled climate

It works well for VPI. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't give it a try and see if it works well for you, too. There is definitely more than one way to go about keeping these snakes, and this is as valid a method as others I've seen and used.