New ball python. Question on temps?

[yankeeslover]

I have a young ball that I received last week.. weighed him and he is approx 100 grams. I figure he should be 1-2 months old... Anyways.. I have him in a sterlite tub. I have a UTH setup with a dimmer. I have the thermometer sitting directly on top of the UTH underneath the newspaper. My question is, the thermometer probe on top of the UTH reads around 95 degrees.. I have a hide on that end and a hide on the cool end. When i point my infred reader it reads the newspaper under the hide around 90-95, which is good, but if i lift it off the air a bit, the temp in the hide is around 82 degrees....does the snake get his heat just from the belly? or does the actual air temp also have to be in the 90s for his warm end? the belly heat seems good, but im worried about the actual air temp. I have a space heater in the room and the cool end is around 76 degrees, where he does spend 90% of his time. any help would be great...Thanks.

[Kaorte]

The ambient air temp between 75-85 is good. You want the hot spot surface no hotter than 95*. Sounds like you are right on target!

No the air temp does not need to be in the 90's on the hot side. They will usually hang out on the cool side unless they are digesting food. No worries!

[tttaylorrr]

I have a hide on that end and a hide on the cool end. When i point my infred reader it reads the newspaper under the hide around 90-95, which is good, but if i lift it off the air a bit, the temp in the hide is around 82 degrees....does the snake get his heat just from the belly? or does the actual air temp also have to be in the 90s for his warm end? the belly heat seems good, but im worried about the actual air temp. I have a space heater in the room and the cool end is around 76 degrees, where he does spend 90% of his time. any help would be great...Thanks.

a UTH is for belly heat ONLY; they do not affect ambient (air) temperatures. the snake uses the belly heat for digestion and as long as the ambient temp stays above 75° throughout the enclosure your snake will be okay. i try to keep my ambient temps around 80°.