Quote Originally Posted by kc261
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 In lots of things a book that is 10 years old is just fine, but in BPs and probably most herps, that is pretty out of date. At least it isn't as bad as computers where 10 months is out of date!

It is possible even with recently published stuff that it was basically copied from out of date stuff, so try to find out about the author too.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 I realized it had simply been copied from an out of date source, not actually written by anyone who knew what they were talking about.
The temps do vary.
I like to keep my ambient temps around 82-84 degrees,

But when breeding season comes I put my breeders in another romm and let the night temps get down to 76 and daytime in the low 80's. At these lower temps you have to keep a close eye on them to make sure no one gets sick and if they are still feeding(many go off feed) the meals need to be much smaller than usual.

As far as the warm side goes different breeders use different temps. I like 90-92 some go a little warmer some go a little cooler. I know some breeders offer no warm side during breeding, i do offer warm side although many snakes may not use it much until they are gravid.



If you stay within these general parameters you should be OK. We do get many posts from people who say my snake isn't eating and then we come to find the ambient temps are in the 70's. So when people on the forum say 84 degrees it's because they know your snake will keep feeding and not go into cool down mode.

Some books give very generalized info, so saying 76-88 isnt entirely wrong BUT they are not mentioning that 76 is an extreme low (for breeding cycles) and 88 is kind of on the lower end of the warm side. If you shoot for the 84 cool and 93 warm there will always be some fluctuations but in general you should not have many problems and your snake should eat well and shouldn't get stress related illnesses.