Can heat bulb/ CHE burn the snake?

[Ooo]

If my BP at night is wondering the enclosure, and If she manage to reach the mesh lid that is heated by the CHE or any times of Bulb, will it burn her? The surface of the lid probably gets to 130 plus. I am planning on using two 100 watt CHE during the night on a 120 gallon. And two 100 watt heat bulb during the day. Is that good wattage?

[Luvyna]

Yes, CHEs can absolutely burn snakes. They can burn humans too. You MUST control all heat sources of any kind with a thermostat, otherwise they can also heat up the enclosure so much that the snake overheats and dies. This can happen in a short time so it is extremely important to have a reliable thermostat.

Even with a thermostat, CHEs can still get very hot to heat up the ambient temperature to the appropriate level, so you should have at least a few inches of distance between the CHE and any mesh that your snake can touch. This is pretty easy to achieve with a lamp for the CHE like a Fluker's lamp dome which is taller than the CHE so that it leaves a few inches of space between the mesh and the CHE. I use this method myself and carefully tested the mesh temps before putting my snake in, and it seems to work well.

As for the wattage, 100 watts sounds fine. I can't say if 2 bulbs will be enough for such a big enclosure, but you can always test it and buy more if needed.

[303_enfield]

For a 120 I think you’ll need three bulbs. Besides the dome you can use a metal grid to get more room an safety for your pet.

Google heat bulb safety cages. Something useful will show up.

Good luck!

[GoingPostal]

If my BP at night is wondering the enclosure, and If she manage to reach the mesh lid that is heated by the CHE or any times of Bulb, will it burn her? The surface of the lid probably gets to 130 plus. I am planning on using two 100 watt CHE during the night on a 120 gallon. And two 100 watt heat bulb during the day. Is that good wattage?

Why wouldn't you run the same bulbs day and night? More bulbs, more on and off just increases your risks with heat lamps as far as them burning out, fire risk, etc. Then they need to be either in a dome or protected cover so the snake can't get within several inches of them. You'll have to fiddle with lamps to see how much it will require, it's impossible to say since we don't know what your room ambient temps are or anything, plus I don't know anyone who is trying to heat or keep a ball python in that large of a fish tank to compare to. Is this a regular 4' long 120? If it's lighting you're worried about, the snake doesn't want any and an LED strip would probably work great if you do.

[Sonny1318]

I use bulbs, I go with a bit more wattage then I need and adjust them with a plug in dimmer switch. Not only can I control the temp, but get a very long life out of the bulbs. I use zoomed infrared bulbs. Got the dimmers from amazon. It’s old school, but it works like a charm. And you can definitely burn or overheat the animals if proper precautions aren’t adhered to. Best of luck.

[Craiga 01453]

Thats also a A HUGE enclosure for a BP. Not to say it won't work, it just may be more trouble than it's worth.

[Ooo]

thanks for all the advise. I will get two heat lamp guard, just for the bulbs. i probably don't need the CHE at night, my room temps at night is 75, during the day is 72. a 120 agllon tank really dont look two big, its like two 40 gallons. i have tried tubes but you can't heat tubes amient temp and its hard to get the right size.

[Vegan.Hiker]

When I was setting up my current enclosure my infrared clocked the mesh top that the heat lamp sat on, that my bp could touch at over 300 degrees F. Wayyy to hot. So I ended up affixing a smaller 20 gallon aquarium mesh top, upside down underneath my enclosures mesh top so that there are 2 mesh tops under my heat lamps about 3/4” apart. The bottom surface (the upside down 20L mesh top) that my bp can touch only gets about 120F which is safe. My enclosure is a 40 gallon breeder side FYI. If this doesn’t make sense and you want pics, let me know.

[Ooo]

When I was setting up my current enclosure my infrared clocked the mesh top that the heat lamp sat on, that my bp could touch at over 300 degrees F. Wayyy to hot. So I ended up affixing a smaller 20 gallon aquarium mesh top, upside down underneath my enclosures mesh top so that there are 2 mesh tops under my heat lamps about 3/4” apart. The bottom surface (the upside down 20L mesh top) that my bp can touch only gets about 120F which is safe. My enclosure is a 40 gallon breeder side FYI. If this doesn’t make sense and you want pics, let me know.

this totally make sense, i have a spare mesh, thank you so much. do you tape the mesh or gule it?

[Vegan.Hiker]

this totally make sense, i have a spare mesh, thank you so much. do you tape the mesh or gule it?

I placed them where I wanted them attached, had someone hold them together while I drilled sets of holes through both layers of mesh then attached them together using plastic ties to attach them together. Just make sure to do this around the edge away from where the heat lamps will sit so the zip ties aren’t in danger of melting.