First BP, question on heating pad and ambient temp.

[Teacherguy5]

Picked up my first BP that will spend most of its time in a lab at the school I teach at with a number of other animals. We have an under tank pad on one side with a thermostat. We attached the probe to the bottom of the tank and set the therm to 95 degrees. That part is fine, but we have a thermometer right above that, and the ambient temp is down to 72-74 depending on time of day. On the other side we have a night bulb in and that said stays at 78-80 whenever I check it.

Question is, is the ambient temp on the heat pad side too low despite the thermostat keeping it at 95? Carl (the snake) will bury himself in the aspen shavings on the heat pad side I've noticed to pick up more of the heat I assume.

[Snakemom85]

No expert here but my suggestion would be to put the heat lamp on the warm side. Then he can go to the cool side if he needs to but it is warm enough on the warm side. The heating pad only heats the bottom of the tank where it is touching it doesn't do much for ambiant temps.

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[Stewart_Reptiles]

Picked up my first BP that will spend most of its time in a lab at the school I teach at with a number of other animals. We have an under tank pad on one side with a thermostat. We attached the probe to the bottom of the tank and set the therm to 95 degrees. That part is fine, but we have a thermometer right above that, and the ambient temp is down to 72-74 depending on time of day. On the other side we have a night bulb in and that said stays at 78-80 whenever I check it.

Question is, is the ambient temp on the heat pad side too low despite the thermostat keeping it at 95? Carl (the snake) will bury himself in the aspen shavings on the heat pad side I've noticed to pick up more of the heat I assume.

Ambient temp as little to nothing to do with the hot spot and your UTH your cool and ambient temps depend on the temp in your home so if you cannot achieve 75 degrees min on the cool side you will need to either get your room temp up which is not very efficient for once snake, or supply with additional heat (can be a second heat pad with an additional thermostat set for the cool side)

We attached the probe to the bottom of the tank

Hopefully not inside the tank correct?

[Midwest]

I have a similar question. My tank has a UTH on each side and together the cover a majority of the bottom. If one of them is around 78 and the other around 88-90 should I still attempt to keep ambient temps in the tank up as well. Right now the room is about 70 degrees and the ambient temp is around 72. Just curious since almost the entire surface of the tank bottom is 78 or higher? My breeder said with this type of set up the ambient temps aren't as important as long as they are above 70.

[Craiga 01453]

I'm sorry teacherguy, but it sounds like you should have done some homework before bringing the animal home/to school.

I'm not sure a BP makes a very good classroom pet. They're nocturnal, shy, timid and thrive in low traffic areas.

But since you've already got the snake start here https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ius)-Caresheet

And if you've got other reptiles in that classroom I hope you followed proper quarantine before introducing a new snake to the classroom.

[Cheesenugget]

I have a similar question. My tank has a UTH on each side and together the cover a majority of the bottom. If one of them is around 78 and the other around 88-90 should I still attempt to keep ambient temps in the tank up as well. Right now the room is about 70 degrees and the ambient temp is around 72. Just curious since almost the entire surface of the tank bottom is 78 or higher? My breeder said with this type of set up the ambient temps aren't as important as long as they are above 70.

You can add a small wattage bulb (25 watts or less), put it closer to the middle, for ambient temps if you like. Check your temps to make sure your hot spot and cool spot are still good.

[Teacherguy5]

Ambient temp as little to nothing to do with the hot spot and your UTH your cool and ambient temps depend on the temp in your home so if you cannot achieve 75 degrees min on the cool side you will need to either get your room temp up which is not very efficient for once snake, or supply with additional heat (can be a second heat pad with an additional thermostat set for the cool side)

Hopefully not inside the tank correct?

The probe is inside the tank. The heating pad is under the tank. Just watching youtube this is how we saw it done. We ran with a heat lamp for a week or two but I kept seeing heat pads are better for ball pythons.

In my head, I'm weighing out as if the same thing were happening for a person. If I'm in a warehouse, the temp for me the floor could be significantly different than the temp at the ceiling, but hey, different species here.

[wnateg]

The probe is inside the tank. The heating pad is under the tank. Just watching youtube this is how we saw it done. We ran with a heat lamp for a week or two but I kept seeing heat pads are better for ball pythons.

The thermostat probe should go between the UTH and the glass, not inside the tank.

[Teacherguy5]

So what is a safe temp to set the thermostat to? Inside the tank, on the bottom under the aspen, it's set to 95. Just a plain glass aquarium is what he is in.

[wnateg]

So what is a safe temp to set the thermostat to? Inside the tank, on the bottom under the aspen, it's set to 95. Just a plain glass aquarium is what he is in.

You should put the probe between the UTH and the bottom of the tank. Once that's done, you should set it so that the surface temp measured from the inside with a heat gun is no more than 88-90. Right now, with your probe inside and your thermostat set to 95, you're too hot.