Quote Originally Posted by swade_8 View Post
As with many post's in here, I'm also new to this snake housing science but after spending the last few hours browsing the site I think I may have it somewhat figured out. I got my ball python (spot) a month or so ago, along with a ten gallon enclosure. The pet store also recommended some aspen bedding, a hide log, water dish, and a heating lamp.
- Since that day I have been struggling with the temps and humidity, that is before today when I realized that it was belly temps not ambient air temps that your looking for. After moving my acu-rite temp probes around to where they need to be and adding the alum. foil to the lid (until i can cut my lexan tomorrow) everything seems to be just right, minus the MASSIVE water dish in the tank.
The belly temp on the warm is a toasty 91 degrees, the cool is almost 76 and the ambient air temp is a tad chilly although the CHT and thermostat are running as we speak and I'm hoping that will help bring the cool side temp to where it needs to be. My only question is even though my temp probe is on the glass directly above the UTH and it's registering 91 degrees is there still a need for a thermostat on it or is it safe as is?
Thanks for all the useful posts!!
-Craig

I just went through what you're going through lol.



1st bold - Heating lamps suck up humidity. With that said some people(like me) have to run one on the cool side because the house is cold and the snake is in a room used by people. If this is the case use an infared bulb or a Ceramic Heat Emitter. I've found the infared light to heat better, plus I can see in the tank at night to make sure temps etc... are ok. However, if you can avoid a lamp then do so. ALSO, hide logs SUCK as a good secure place for your BP. What you want is a hide that the snake can feel secure in, enclosed on all sides with a small entrance. Reptile Basics hides are perfect for this.

2nd bold - Your UTH should ALWAYS be on a tsat or at LEAST a dimmer until you get one. Doesn't need to be anything fancy, a Repti-Temp 500R is just fine although some might disagree. Oh, and the temp probe should be IN the substrate right above the UTH so you can get accurate belly heat where the snake actually makes contact.

Hope this helps.