Heating problems!

[Stofey]

Hi, sorry if these questions seem a bit foolish. I've never had a ball python before, and I've been trying to learn as much a I can about caring for them.

So, here's my question. Does anyone have any recommendations on getting a tank to retain heat. It does have a screen top. The room temperature is 60 degrees, possible lower at night. Unfortunately, even if we turn the heat on in the house, it changes nothing. This is due to the fact that I live in the basement.

To people who are worried, Worry not! I have not yet gotten my ball python! I don't plan too until I know I can keep the proper conditions to take care of him/her! I set up the tank as if the ball python were living in it so that I can see how the temperature would work in the basement where we would be staying.

Unfortunately, the temperature is not going up at all! I'm using a Zoo Med UTH on the ten gallon tank. It has not gone up at all since I plugged it in six hours ago. The 'warm' side of the tank is only reaching 61.5 degrees F and the cold side is at 58.5 degrees F. I am also having problems with humidity. I bought a spray bottle so that I can mist the cage. I'm using Zoo Med Eco Earth bricks as substrate. A friend who owns ball pythons recommended it to me. But I haven't really found much reviews about it pertaining to ball pythons online. So if anyone has any experience with it, whether it's good or bad, that would also be appreciated. I picked it because they said it would keep humidity up pretty well. I do have a heat lamp and I had it on for most of the day. It did boost the heat quite a bit, problem is, I read that constant overhead lighting for Ball pythons could stress them out. I was hoping if the lamp heated it up during the day that it could retain that heat throughout the night so that I could give it a rest for the night. Unfortunately, the tank temperature shot down super fast and did not retain heat at all. It's only been a few hours and its back down to 60 degrees.

I did look at night time bulbs for tanks that need constant heat lamps, are those any good? If anyone has any experience on whether they stress ball pythons out or not, it would be appreciated.

Unfortunately I refuse to get my ball python until I figure out a way to get the proper conditions for his enclosure, which saddens me because I'm really excited to own one. My bedroom was originally upstairs, but it's being redone, so there's not much I can do. It won't be done for quite a while. I'm currently living with my Dad, but I plan to move out in September. Luckily, when I move into my own place, I'll actually have a room with proper heat. For now though, if I cannot find a way to retain the heat, I'll try to convince them to let me move into the half-done bedroom until I move out. I'd much rather just stay in the basement though. So if I can find a way to do that, It'd be great. Though, if I cannot find a way to retain the heat and I cannot convince my dad to let me move into the half done bedroom, I'll end up having to wait until September to get my ball python . I just wanna make sure my ball python has everything he/she needs when I get him. Like I said, this'll be my first ball python and I'm super nervous.

Any suggestions would be helpful! Thank you so much!

[melcvt00]

I use heavy duty aluminum foil on the top of my screen, and have a hole cut for the CHE bulb and dome to sit on top. Three sides of the tank have Reflectix (the silvery bubble wrap type stuff) taped to them for insulation.

A UTH will do nothing for ambient temps. You are going to need a heat source on top as well, with room temps that low. I would get the same size CHE for both sides, and lamp dimmers for them so you can adjust them. As I said, mine sits on the screen, but I have a stand to hook it on for when I need to open the tank.

**You do have a thermostat for the UTH, right??

Make sure you have a digital thermometer/hygrometer on each side. Walmart has a good one in the Acurite line. This way you know for sure what the temps on each side are, though there are many here that have a temp gun.

[BPGator]

In addition to the CHE on a dimmer and insulating the 3 sides as melcvt00 mentioned, as well as ensuring the UTH is on a thermostat, you need to have a thermometer on the inside of the tank adjacent to the UTH. This is because the snake will dig down and find the hottest spot, so you want to make sure the hottest thing it can touch does not exceed 90F. The UTH will do almost nothing to heat the substrate or air, which is why you don't see a temp difference.

Another item you didn't mention is humidity. It can be difficult to maintain proper humidity (50-60%) with a screen top. Get a hygrometer so you know these are ok. Humidity varies with temperature, so you may find as you bring the air temp up, the humidity will go down.


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[Coluber42]

Like others said, the first thing to do is insulate the crap out of the tank. Cardboard or foam wrapped in foil is good for the screen top, just make sure that any part of a heating fixture that gets hot stays a safe distance from any cardboard! Foam core, packaging foam, cardboard (multiple layers even), etc, can all make a big difference around the sides. Also, make sure you insulate the bottom too! The cage can lose a lot of heat out the bottom through whatever it's sitting on. Set it on top of a piece of wood, foam, etc.

If you haven't bought anything yet, I would go with a ceramic heat emitter over an incandescent bulb. For starters, they last longer and you don't have to worry about switching between "day" and "night" bulbs. Not to mention that the snake actually can see red light. Plenty of snakes do just fine with red bulbs on at night, but it's still not the same as having it actually be dark.

Also, all else being equal, you might as well get a higher-wattage CHE (assuming your fixture can handle it) than lower. The reason is that your snake will eventually grow out of a 10-gallon tank, and you might as well buy heating equipment that's more likely to be useful in a bigger cage. Any heat source you use should be regulated with a thermostat or at least a lamp dimmer anyway, so a higher wattage one won't overheat if it is regulated.

But don't get discouraged. It's totally possible to heat a tank appropriately in a 60-degree room, plenty of us here keep snakes in 60-degree houses.

[Stofey]

I knew I forgot to throw stuff in there. The wattage of my CHE is 120w. I actually did not pay for it. Luckily, I went to my mother's to help clean up christmas decorations and my step-dad had an extra one that he never used for his California king snake (Such a sweet little guy )

Also, I'm moving back upstairs till I move out. I spoke with my dad about it this morning, and he said it was fine since we probably wouldn't start working on the room again till summer. I just worry cause last night my basement bedroom got down to 40 degrees. And while I managed to keep warm, I don't want to risk my snake in any way.

So once I'm fully moved in upstairs, I'm going to see how that goes. The upstairs of our house has a substantial difference in temperature, so I'm hoping everything will go okay

Though, I do have another question. I live in northern Ohio. It does tend to get rather hot in the summer. 80-90 degrees. On those days, I plan to leave all his heating devices off. Would that be alright? I, of course, will be keeping a close eye on the thermometers in his tank, to make sure they don't go above the temp he needs. Also, I plan to make sure he has plenty of water to soak in and mist the cage often with cool water. Would this be okay for him?

I do not yet have a thermostat for my tank, but it's on my list for sure. I plan to buy it within the next 1-2 days. I was just waiting for my next paycheck before I do it, haha. Also, I do in fact have 2 thermometers. One for each side. Do I need 2 hydrometers? I only bought one for the whole tank cause i figured since it was a ten gallon, he'd only need one...

Also, all three of them are in fact digital and I do plan to by a temperature gun when I buy my thermostat.

[Stofey]

I suddenly came to another question.

I plan to get the Jump Start Digital Thermostat featured on amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/MTPRTC-ETL-Ce...ct_top?ie=UTF8

Does anyone have experience with this product? Also, would I have to buy two of them to monitor the ceramic heat emitter AND the UTH? I don't want any worries for my ball python. It seems that the overhead heat sources give off most the heat. Much more than the UTH I have. So I'm worried that any overhead heater I use can make his enclosure too hot. Would I have to buy two or is it possible to plug a power cord into the Thermostat and plug both my overhead heat source and UTH into it? Thank you for helping me!

[PitOnTheProwl]

Different heating sources require either a different thermostat or one that is capable of monitoring dual zones.