Quote Originally Posted by AK907 View Post
Your internal temperature is 98.6. Your skin is actually much cooler on average. 98 degrees over an extended period of time in unhealthy for a ball python. It might not burn them in the sense you're thinking of (blisters, etc) but it isn't good for them. Now, if your unregulated heat mat gets to 130 degrees, it most certainly can cause severe burns. I've seen reptiles with burns from them.
Oh yes, I've always had a thermostat on my heating pad as I think the two people who got me into BPs would have given me a good wallop had I skipped over that detail, and his hot spot doesn't go over 92. I've just been curious about that for a while since our internal temp is within the "burn" range for them, but my hands have never caused a burn. Thanks for clearing that up for me :3