Is UTH enough?

[Nathan]

I've been researching a lot before getting a ball python, and there is one thing that is confusing for me. I understand that they require a relatively high ambient temp and a slightly higher warm side temp. Does a UTH pad provide the necessary amount of heat alone? Is it necessary to have heating lamps/CHE in addition to a UTH pad? Any advice on how to properly keep a young ball python heated is greatly appreciated.

[waltah!]

It depends on a few things. What will you be keeping your bp in? Tank or tub? What is the avg room temp where the enclosure will be set up? Many times you can just use a properly sized UTH, but it depends on the factors above.

[WingedWolfPsion]

I would never recommend using a UTH of any kind without a thermostat or rheostat to control it. Many UTHs get too hot for ball pythons. The packaging on virtually all of them will say in small print, somewhere, that they should be used with a controlling device.

[Jenn]

I prefer to look at it the other way around. I make SURE the UTH is enough through the proper size and location of the enclosure, proper size UTH, insulation and top covering (if tank), and so on.

Once you have to add heat lamps there goes your humidity.

Check out some stickies on proper set-up, there are tons of them on this site.

[waltah!]

To clarify what I meant by UTH alone was using it as the only heat source. You never want to use any heat source for your animals without being able to control it.

[BJJPython]

If done well, you can use a heatlamp without sacrificing your humidity. I use both a UTH and a heatlamp. The tank I had (didnt want to buy a new one) is too tall for the UTH to keep the ambient air temp up. I got a lamp hood for the top, closed a good portion of the rest of the screen top off with aluminum foil, and humidity stays around 60% the entire time (in a typically air conditioned room). I never really see any fluctuation in it, +/- 2%. I will say it can make for a pain when trying to get your ball out! I think if you go with the heat lamp you just need to make sure that you do everything right to make sure the stats are correct. (Either way, I'd go with a UTH as well with a thermostat, takes a lot of the stress away worrying if your enclosure is suitable).

[Nathan]

Sorry, at the moment my plan is to use a 10G glass tank to house the BP. Right now, I have a hood lamp for a lid on the tank, but could easily switch to a screen lid if that's what the situation calls for. The room is air-conditioned so the average temperature stays around 72-74F. I knew about the need for a thermostat/rheostat from reading through some of the stickies here as well as the BP care sheet, and so know how important is to be able to regulate the temperature.

Thanks so much for the advice so far!

[branson]

My snake was previously in a 28qt Sterilite tub with a single 10-20 gallon sized UTH (controlled by a Repti Temp 500R thermostat). This wasn't enough to get the ambient temps up, so I also had a 75W reptile red light positioned about 16" above the tub on the cool side. That did the trick without compromising humidity.

I've recently gone to two UTHs, controlled by the Repti Temp thermostat. The cool side UTH also has a dimmer to keep the temps around 84 degrees F. This set up works, but I'm going to two RANCO units since they don't have as much of a temperature swing as the current thermostat.