Hummmm....that sounds like he's using his basking-heat to heat his entire enclosure...which seems risky to me. Of course, Bob Clark has TONS of experience...and I have about .003% experience compared to him. But that doesn't seem right to me, so I guess I would fall under the "alarmed novice" status.

If you're using your basking heat-source to heat your entire enclosure to the proper ambient temps...then it would need to be really hot for a burm because they need such large homes. I guess it wouldn't have to be quite as hot for your typical bp cage...but I'm quite sure I would find a safer way to heat my cages, rather than risk burning my snakes.

Was that article written in 1998? If so...I wonder if his techniques have changed since then? One thing I've noticed when reading lots of forum posts from serious "old timers" is that their husbandry techniques have changed and evolved a lot over the years, especially since the Internet became such a large part of our culture and they could learn from others with similar experiences.