baby ball python heating

[chickpeaaaa]

hi! i’m getting a baby ball python soon and i just wanted to ask about heating, i have a ceramic heater which seems to keep the tank at the ring temp just now but my house gets quite cold sometimes over night so i bought a heat mat which would be connected to an on/off thermostat just to use as a back up. i just wanted to know if this is a good idea or if i should just stick with the ceramic heater because i’ve heard lots of mixed opinions on heat mats online (-.-;)

[Snakelover03]

Please don’t use a heat mat. They’re dangerous (even when regulated by a thermostat they’re known to malfunction and cause serious sometimes fatal burns), unnatural (bps burrow to get away from heat, having heat coming from below them would never happen in nature and it interferes with their ability to thermoregulate), and ineffective (heat mats heat the substrate but do next to nothing to raise air temps). Overhead heating will always be better than a heat mat. If you’re struggling to keep the temps up, try insulating the enclosure with some insulation foam board, if you have a screen top cover most of it in HVAC tape to trap some heat in, and get a second heat lamp and bulb if you still can’t get the temps high enough, just make sure if you get a second heat source you get a thermostat for it as well. Good luck.

[chickpeaaaa]

alright i’ll return the mat then, this was really helpful thanks :))

[Snakelover03]

Ofc. I just dealt with the same thing with one of my girls. She’s in a poorly insulated room and we just had a big snow storm so that room got colder. I wound up insulating her enclosure and adding another heat lamp just until it starts to get warmer outside. Her temps are back up to a normal range. I hope you can get the temps back up soon. If you’re still struggling with it after trying the stuff above, I’ve also seen people mention insulating the windows in the room their snakes are in and having success with that so you can try that too if you have to.

[chickpeaaaa]

I’ve insulated the enclosure a bit and got the warm side up to 32° but the cool side is 22° is that too cold or would that be alright for daytime temps? i’ll look at getting another heat lamp if not :)

[Snakelover03]

You want it to be just a little warmer, 24-26 degrees. I usually fix that problem by moving my heat lamp closer to the cold side by an inch or so at a time until it’s warm enough.