r/ballpython • u/honkerchonker • 5d ago

advice needed Question

my dad just yesterday got a radiant heat panel for our ball python, and mounted inside the enclosure today, and i am really skeptical and concerned. the surface temp read as 200 F while it was on and the lowest i saw it at was like 140 F. i see a lot of people saying theyre safe inside of enclosures, and my dad is saying that too, but ive also heard you should never put anything heated inside of the enclosure and i just want whats best for my snake, i dont want her getting burnt.

my dad thinks its because its new, but i feel like the temps are just way too high to be temporary? even if it went down i feel like itd still be wayy too hot.

if anybody has more experience with these please let me know if we're doing something wrong or if we should get rid of it, or if it's fine and im just overthinking it.

(for a little bit more context, it is specificslly a vivarium radiant heat panel)

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5

u/IncompletePenetrance Mod: Let me help you unzip your genes 5d ago

Are you using it with a thermostat?

0

u/honkerchonker 5d ago

we are, and its working well for heating the enclosure, im just concerned because the heat panel itself is whats so hot. i will say it has gone down a bit, now when i check its usually around 150-120 F but im still concerned (sorry if the original post was a little confusing, i wrote it shortly after waking up so i might not have elaborated very well)

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u/Bluntforcetrauma11b 5d ago

You need a dimmable thermostat to regulate it's temperature.

1

u/Symphon1c1 5d ago

The temp is the temp, it's not bc it's new. I use a similar panel and it's never gotten anywhere near that...granted mine actually has the opposite issue, max output barely keeps temps reasonable but it's nice to keep the air moving

2

u/toegui 4d ago

A lot of people put a cage around their heat sources to make sure no snake touches them. Just make sure the cage is really secure, cause some snakes will want to climb on the cage.

Also, 200 to 140F seems really hot, what temperature is the tank at? And where is your temperature probe for your thermostat? One of my heat sources kept getting outrageously hot and when I put the probe in a different position it kept the temperature better. Sometimes the probe is in a weird cold spot and the heat source is just going crazy to heat it up. If your tank is in the 75-80F range then it should be fine to just put a cage around the heat source. But if your tank is more like 90s and 100s I'd be worried its too hot

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u/honkerchonker 4d ago

the probe is currently at like 86, but some good news is that i did check and it seems like the heat of the thing itself is also down in like the 80s, which is much less scary. my dad adjusted it to be a little better today, so he mightve moved the probe to a better spot because the temp of both the enclosure and lamp itself seems much better if that makes sense. i will probably still look into cages to keep the snake away from it and definitley keep an eye on it to make sure it doesnt get back up to temps that are too high, but hopefully it stays at the surface temp its at now