I personally use radiant heat panels and they have worked great for me BUT there are some guys out here that will tell you that they will not work efficiently enough for terrestrial snakes like the ball python, however mine work great (I have them in all 7 cages!)and I love them. They install inside the cage and you do not need a cover on them. They do heatup but because they are on the cceiling they do not heat up hot enough for your animal to burn itself. I would stay away from flexwatt for the belly heat if thats the way you go. There are much more safer brands of UTH available. As for the scale thing im not sure what that could be ?