Enclosure Question

[youbeyouibei]

Thank you for the welcome & the reply!

I owned a few snakes (burmese, ball, kingsnake) about 20yrs ago so you will have to bear with me because I am sure I will have several questions due to being out of the loop for so long.

I was always told in the past to make sure you have overhead heating, you said "If you're set on using bulbs" so I am assuming it's not really mandatory?

If I get a big enough UTH then overhead lighting really shouldn't be necessary? & assuming with the dimensions I would need a Medium (8x12 zoo med) or even a large (Exo-Terra I found on ebay 11x17)? Being a hexagon I think is going to be a pain with the UTH but, for now I think it will work.

I have a (older) Alife thermostat that I will use, as far as that goes should the probe go in the tank above where the UTH is placed or under where the UTH is? When I used it in the past I put it in the tank on top of the bedding but unsure what is the correct way.

If everything works out I am planning on just building a custom enclosure in the near future for this, I just have to let the wife get over being mad once she finds out..

Thanks again

No problem at all on the reply, happy to help.

Ball pythons need a hot side with temps from 90 - 92 F but as to a "basking spot" with light bulbs, that really isn't necessary nor is it something a ball would be likely to use. They tend to spend most of their time in their hides and so long as you have hides on both the "cool" and the "hot" sides of the tanks, they'll be fine in terms of being able to thermoregulate.

Your UTH should provide enough heat that you don't need overhead lighting. If you find that you do, you might look at ceramic heat emitters, as these don't emit any type of light. They will kill the humidity in a heartbeat, though, which is a drawback to them. Trade-offs with everything, lol! I'd personally go with the higher wattage UTH as opposed to size, so long as it would be large enough to cover 1/3 or so of the bottom of the tank.

You don't want to max out the heating on your UTH and run it at max capacity if you can help it. It'll burn it out quicker and might cause a fire hazard. If you find one that leaves you some wiggle room in terms of being able to up the heat and not have it be at it's maximum to meet your heating requirements, it would be better all around.

I'm not familiar with that thermostat but so long as it's accurate and functions, you should be fine. Proportional or on/off stats either one will work just fine. Absolutely put the probe on the heat mat itself under the tank and cover it to create as much of an airtight seal as possible with metallic tape (HVAC tape, NOT duct, lol!) to help it get as accurate of temps as possible.

I'd recommend you get a hygrometer (measures humidity) and a pair of thermometers (digital rather than analog). Put one thermometer probe on the floor on the "hot" side and the other one on the "cool" side. If you haven't already, you might want to look at getting a temp gun. Rich at Reptile Basics, Inc. has several to choose from, depending on your price range and he's a member on the forums if you have questions. He's a goo guy t deal with and has a great reputation.
His website: (http://www.reptilebasics.com/thermometers).

A temp gun will let you monitor the actual temp of the substrate/floor in the tank on the "hot" side so if you need to adjust it. For instance, on my rack I run my thermostat at 94 degrees to get a heat of 91 - 92 degrees on the floor on the hot side of the tubs.

Good luck with your wife, lol! I hear ya' on that...I just ask forgiveness instead of permission anymore, lmao! Good luck and hope that helps!