Sheesh I’ve been keeping my snakes too cold for a while. Think it’s time to invest in a few heat lamps because heat mats aren’t cutting it

I got my first python this week and your vid is by far the best helpful I've seen. Thank you!

Which particular halogen bulbs would you recommend for, say, a 4x2x2 enclosure?

So excited for this series. Thank you so much for all the science based content you put out for free. Helps me so much. :)

Found your channel just searching right temps ..this is the best vid on this subject I’ve watched thanks man ..good vid ✌🏻

Great to watch videos made by a Brit for a change - good work.

Our girl spends probably 90% of her time in her hide at the cool end at around 25-26º and only really goes into her hide at the hot end after she's eaten and sometimes after I've turned the thermostat down for a bit to fluctuate the temperature 👍

Thank you so much for this video. I have held off bringing my baby BP home because I didn’t think my temps were suitable for him. But this makes me more comfortable and ready to get him.

Good points. My ball python is in a long 50 gallon with a small basking light on one end, water bowl on the other end, hides found on each end and the middle and several branches for whatever she wants to do during her evening exploration. My room temps hover around 24C due to the various heatlamps from my enclosures, evenings cool down about 2 degrees. The small basking light adds a bit and that end of the enclosure hovers around 29C give or take. Humidity is my particular challenge as there are tropical enclosures in the room that raises the humidity around the 60 - 70%.

You made this so easy to understand, this is a fantastic guide. Thank you for all that you're doing for Ball Pythons. ❤ This information is so important.

This is the perfect way to go about it. You'll likely get flack from many keepers, particularly those that keep their snakes in smaller enclosures.

For small enclosures and especially rub keepers, there is not enough space to allow variety, so having temps dialed in on point is the only option. A 2ft rub only has space for hit and cold. That doesn't match up to what animals face in the wild.

A larger enclosure allows for much more environmental variety with temperature and humidity microclimates, which is far more important for a reptile's health than people realize. The animal should always be able to choose from multiple hides and basking temperature gradients.

You did a review of my 6Lx2Wx3H a while back. If you recall, I had multiple hides on the ground and several elevated hides as well.

I find my BP utilizing different hides throughout the days and weeks. On the warm side to middle of the enclosure, he has basking opportunities that vary from the standard 90F on the ground, over 100f if fully sprawled on the elevated basking ledge, and mid to high 80s elevated around the middle of the enclosure off to the side of the heat lamps. Each location also acts as a hide, so he can choose his level of exposure and adjust his body temp as he needs.

Our reptiles know what temperatures they need to be at much better than we do. We just need to provide them with options.

Appreciate your vids as always.  I generally agree with everything you have said here.  However, it occurred to me there is a case for being concerned about the day time air temperature or more specifically the day time air temperature inside a warm hide.  I have BPs that will certainly come out and basic if they want to warm up but I also have a BP that is much more reclusive than my others.  This particular BP is not going to come out and bask to warm up but instead is completely dependent on moving between his hides to regulate his temp.  Due to this I need to ensure that he has a hide that is warm enough inside for him to warm up inside the hide without having to come out and actually bask.  The obvious solution, and what I do, is to just have his warm hide under the halogen lamps.

I just recently upgraded our Royal boy Delta into a much larger plastic HDX storage tote with the locking lid  style and his newer accommodations is just under a 4x2x2 in size...with my two boys and I living in Alaska and being currently in our winter season till the end of this month when all our snow starts melting and spring starts to spring once again the room his enclosure and him are kept in my bedroom during winter its colder in the room then durning our summer months with the room staying right around 73ish degrees Fahrenheit so on the cooler end of his enclosure I have been keeping a CHE bulb going at night as well and the over all temperature with in his enclosure at night stays around 77-79 and then of course on his warm side of the enclosure I have a belly heating pad by Zoo med with his hide sitting on top...when upgrading his home i also upgraded his water dish on account of there being more floor space than his 1st tub setup and it's just a cheap plastic dog dish that's hollow underneath if you will from being made in a mold I guess...sence placing the new dish in his house hes mostly always curled up underneath his water dish however I do catch his tho through out the day moving between his warm and cooler side hides but always goes back to under the water dish.  My question I guess is this okay or should I be concerned because I did upgrade his hides as well and I'm thinking maybe I went on the to big side of things on the hides and he doesnt like the size of the new hides I actually tonight moved down in size of his hides to see if that makes any difference in hin always being under his water bowl..

very helpful

thank you so much for this. Do you recommend a ceramic and a bulb in the enclosure then?

Amazing video!

I have a couple of questions if that's alright.

In terms of temperatures on the warm side - I need to be maintaining a 35°C basking spot with a hide temperature ranging from 28-32°C?

For the cool side - I want to be aiming for a hide temperature between 24-27°C.

What should the ambient temps around the enclosure be during the day, there is so much advice I can never get a straight answer?

I've consistently implemented a night drop. However, during the cooler months, my room temperature can dip below 20°C. What would you recommend to supplement ambient temperatures?

Thanks for all the fantastic videos!

Bro what this still only has a couple hundred likes? Thank you for your hard work brotha 🫡 your channel is super damn under-rated, also wish I got those special lights before the tariff, I didn't have a ton of extra money but I had enough and I bet it would be so worth it for my lil one to come out during the day.

Hey, I really appreciate your content and the way you explain things. I’ve been thinking through a few questions and would love your thoughts.

First, when someone is testing different wattage bulbs to get the right temps, does that usually mean the bulb isn’t hooked up to a thermostat? I thought thermostats were really important for safety, so I’m wondering how that fits in.

Second, if a snake hides more for security than heat, could that cause problems with thermoregulation? Like, what if it’s too cold but the snake stays in the hide anyway—how do we know when it’s okay and when it’s not?

Third, is it really okay not to measure surface temps? I’ve heard that surface temps getting too high can cause burns, so I always thought it was important to check. Also, if a heat lamp is the only heat source, it kind of makes sense that the snake would choose to bask. But if there was both a UTH and a lamp, I wonder if they’d still come out to bask or just stay in the warm hide.

Last thing—since you recommend a temperature drop at night, would you also recommend that for folks using UTHs as their only heat source? Should they turn them down at night too?

Thanks again for sharing what you know—just trying to understand this better!

I have a 4 x 2 x 2 ball python enclosure. It has a mesh top, but I keep vinyl mats on top of it to keep the humidity in. Are you saying that I can use basically one heat bulb in my enclosure on the warm side and put the thermostat probe on the cool end? What do I set that temperature to? I mean, what do I put the thermostat at?

Great info, this is going to sound silly, but where do you find slate?  Can you get that at a hardware store?

what do you think is better for heating, a mat or an overhead source? i use mats for my ball pythons but i use overhead for my carpet. i have several extra heat domes im debating switching my ball pythons to heat projectors with, but im not sure if the mat is better. both of my bp's tend to spend a few days at a time heating up (they come out a night) and then theyll spend a few days on the cold side.

as much as im sure both do the same thing, what it really comes down to is do you think the heat is better on their belly's or radiating down through the top of the hide onto their backs?