# Ball python question



## 8leggedfriends (Jun 11, 2005)

My ball python always stays on the cool side. I'm wondering if she is cold? She is cool when i take her out, and she is lethargic, but the warmside has a heating pad that barely produces heat but just enough not to be hot. Why is this?


----------



## Schlyne (Jun 11, 2005)

It might feel more secure on the cool side if you're temps are ok.  If you're not measuring the cage temps with a digital thermometer, get one.  Analog meters have been known to be off as much as 20 degrees.

What are your cage temps?


----------



## Herps&Inverts (Jun 12, 2005)

You need to know 110% what kind of heat the pad is putting out. On that note, invest in a CHE (ceramic heat emitter). Snakes cannot tell how warm they're getting with under-the-body-heat. A CHE creates an ambient temp that will allow your snake to actually move from spot to spot depending on what s/he prefers. Chances are that your snake is either too warm on the hot side, feels more secure on the cool side or isn't feeling well. Try adding a hidebox to the warm side of the cage. Not necessarily on top of the heatpad, but close. BPs tend to hide quite a bit and this might encourage him/her to cruise to the other side. Otherwise, get a CHE and see if things don't change.

Sam


----------



## Beardo (Jun 12, 2005)

Actually, belly heat is more appropriate for shy, burrowing snakes such as Ball Pythons. Ceramic heat emitters literally suck the humidity out of the air, and Ball Pythons need moderate humidity levels (50-60% ideally)...and since Ball Pythons do not bask, a CHE would not be the best way to heat them.

One of the first rules of herp husbandry 101 is _Know your temps!_. Get a digital thermometer and make sure your temps are where they should be. Also make sure you have a hide on both sides of the snake's enclosure, that way it does not have to choose between feeling secure and thermoregulation.


----------



## 8leggedfriends (Jun 12, 2005)

It has 2 hides on the cool and the warm. I dont have a digital thermometer but on the cool sides it can drop as low as 71 and as high as 77 on the warm side its the same, but on the glass the thermometer says 90 but I have bedding over it so it dissipates it pretty good.


----------



## Beardo (Jun 12, 2005)

What kind of bedding are you using? How much? The ideal temperature for a Ball Python is a temperature gradient of 78-86F.


----------



## Shelob (Jun 13, 2005)

My ball who I kept for 10 years always prefered it cooler.  He always shied to the other side of the tank if it was more than 83 or so and he would come back when I turned off the heat lamp.  

All pythons have their own preference I suppose.


----------



## Beardo (Jun 13, 2005)

Shelob said:
			
		

> My ball who I kept for 10 years always prefered it cooler.  He always shied to the other side of the tank if it was more than 83 or so and he would come back when I turned off the heat lamp.
> 
> All pythons have their own preference I suppose.


This is because Ball Pythons do not like it as hot as many people think they do. Congratulations....it took you 10 years to realize you were keeping your snake inproperly.  :clap:


----------



## Shelob (Jun 13, 2005)

DavidBeard said:
			
		

> This is because Ball Pythons do not like it as hot as many people think they do. Congratulations....it took you 10 years to realize you were keeping your snake inproperly.  :clap:


Are you being sarcastic?

In any case, it didn't.  I said that he ALWAYS prefered it.  So the first few months I had him I would try the lamp and he would move so I left it off.  A few months later after rereading the guide to keeping pythons I tried the light again with the same response from the snake.  After that I knew it.  I don't think that is too bad for someone who got the snake when they were 7.


----------

