Quote Originally Posted by chz
(Bits and pieces I snipped from the OP...)

I've read in one of my python books that they do well in temperatures of anywhere form 76-88 or something. But then others say that they shouldn't be below 80 even on the cool side.

One of my books says that pythons need a fluctuating day/night temperature to do well in captivity. By this I mean ~5 degrees cooler during the night. But then I've seen people on these forums say that they need a constant temperature regardless of day/night.

Why is there so much mixed information out there? Its kinda annoying to be told 3 different things, especially when the info is coming from 3 different professional herp breeders/keepers.
Yes it is annoying, and confusing too! Check the copyright date on your book. In lots of things a book that is 10 years old is just fine, but in BPs and probably most herps, that is pretty out of date. At least it isn't as bad as computers where 10 months is out of date!

It is possible even with recently published stuff that it was basically copied from out of date stuff, so try to find out about the author too. I know you said yours was written by professional breeders; I'm just mentioning this part for others reading this. I've seen web pages with recent dates on them recommending a night time drop to 75. I realized it had simply been copied from an out of date source, not actually written by anyone who knew what they were talking about.