Hey everyone! I’m brand new here! Everyone seems so nice!
I’m planning on getting a ball python sometime this year, I have my eye on one on Morphmarket (Link at the end). I love him already. I’m still looking for a tank within my budget, and I wanted some advice on the best way to set up heating and lighting for a glass tank, around 20-30 gallons. Is there any special sort of lighting I need, and should they go in certain places? I have an LED light, and some ceramic heat lamps. Thank you!
Here is the boy I want:
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I have all my enclosures lights set up like this pic. I do it this way so everything is on one side and that way the enclosure has some part of it that’s completely empty of all UVB/heat but the 6500k lights still provide enough light to see the entire enclosure.
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Meant to mention, I use Deep heat projector for my ball python with 24" 6% UVB with a 36" 6500k light for my 4’ enclosures. I plan on adding halogen bulbs soon, just waiting on some bulbs to come in stock
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Thanks for responding so quickly! I appreciate the setup diagram, that’s going to be so helpful! Not sure what the wattage is of my light, i’ll find out. I’ve only got one heat lamp, but I also have an under tank heat mat. Any advice on keeping the humidity with the heat and lights?
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If you got the top with screen then you could get an acrylic sheet that covers a portion of the screen to hold on humidity, but also use a good size water bowl and a nice hydrating substrate like reptisoil, organic topsoil, forest floor, coco chips, etc (there’s a good few to choose from depending on how humid your house already is) I also use a misting machine off Amazon and they work great for my enclosures for my geckos and snakes lol. They’re like $30 and all you need is a bucket or sealable container for water and they’re super easy to set up ( this specific one is what I use from Amazon, just look up misting system and the brand and it’ll come up if you’re in the US
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Acrylic sheet, got it! The water bowl is already on my list, and for substrates, I was planning on using a mix of coconut fiber and cypress mulch, and sphagnum moss which I am planning on dampening every day.
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That’s actually why I got my misters, so I don’t have to spray stuff daily lol but as long as you keep an eye on the humidity you shouldn’t have to spray the moss daily unless your in super dry area or your temps are too hot, moss usually keeps moist for about 5 days if I don’t touch it where I live, but that’s in my leopard gecko moist hides where it’s covered so not much humidity escapes so I suggest setting everything up when you get it all and check parameters for at least a week to make sure your heat and humidity are correct and play around with things to see how often you’d need to mist and what temps work best.
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That’s a good idea, making sure everything is smooth without the snake actually being there! Thanks for all the advice, i’m nearly a total beginner. My state is pretty mid humidity, the problem with my room where I would keep the snake is that it gets warm in the day, and cooler at night, so temperature fluctuations cause weird temps and humidity. I would definitely try to find a good water/heat schedule before getting him though!
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The difference in temps from day to night can be good as long as your room doesn’t get too hot like over 82f and too cold under 65f for too long, everything should be good. I have most everything on timers and temperature regulators lol. I personally keep some heats on all the time since I haven’t gotten everyone on timers but it’s not the end of the world as long as your animals are happy and healthy and eating lol
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I think the worst it gets is in the dead of summer, about 85F during the day, during the winter I use a space heater, so its generally above 60F, about 65-70f at night. The end of the world isn’t here so i guess we’re good lol!
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I actually use a window AC unit in my reptile room to keep it around 72 daytime in summer so I get it lol
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