I've heard a lot of contradictory information regarding what a good set-up for a ball python is like. Now, I've been keeping snakes for about five years or so, and I've never had any significant problems except for one escapee when the snake was not in my care (I got her back), and one 4-week fast during the winter by a female. I would like to know if YOU, personally, have ever had any first-hand experience or have been told by anybody you personally know about health problems resulting from the following things:

- Keeping ball pythons on calci-sand substrate
- Using heat lamps rather than under tank heaters
- Feeding a ball python mice it's entire life (this one has to do with me personally. The pet shop I used to get feeder rats from recently went out of business and now I can only get mice, and one of my BP's will NOT take frozen/thawed, only pre-killed at best).
- Not using a thermostat, only a thermometer, to monitor and (manually) control temperature.

I have heard that heat lamps suck the humidity out of the air, but I have also heard that the only thing bp's need humidity for is for shedding, and that REALLY low humidity can caused RI's (I heard that happened to one guy who's top drawer in a rack system was right near a heat vent). I use heat lamps, have never had RI's, and my animals shed in whole pieces every time. I up the humidity when they start hazing up by putting a damp towel over the screen top.

I don't have a thermostat, I can't afford one (and because I have 2 seperate tanks and no rack system, I would need 2 of them, one for each animal). I was told by the breeder who sold me my first snake 5 years ago that they are hardy animals that can tolerate moderate temperature fluccuations (being that they're wild animals, I wouldn't be surprised). In california during the day, the temperature in my room is a static 92 degrees, and at night it's 78 at the coolest. During the winter, the heat lamps keep the temperatures between 87 and 91, with very mild dips and spikes. Have you ever heard of serious medical conditions resulting from the lack of a thermostat?

I like the way sand looks. I read in a magazine recently that it can irritate the scales of non-desert snakes and cause scale rot. Since reading that, I switched them both to paper towels, but I'm quite fond of the aesthetics of my enclosures and I miss the sand. Would it be really terrible to switch back? Is the risk of scale rot from sand alone very high?

thank you for any and all feedback.