Heating ambient temps?

[dannybgoode]

I recently purchased a Boa and was told a heat mat would be useless once she was of any size.

Too much muscle mass for a heat mat to be of any use and all the snake would do is bury down to it and have very localised heating to their bottom 1/3 and very little elsewhere leading to a) potential burns and b) digestive problems.

I have settled on a thermostatically controlled ceramic heat emitter which acts much more like the sun when raising the ambient temperature and heating the 'ground'.

[Zelg]

Originally Posted by pitontheprowl

The idiot I got this girl from said he was only using the smallest zoomed because that's all she needed.
Sure wish I would have taken photos when I first got her, all the puss and blood was sickening.
Needless to say, I went and bought one of those little mats. It hit 110 within about 15 minutes running.
I don't know the exact BUT the highest recommended with a ball python is 95 degrees and I personally wouldn't push the surface temperature past that.

Man thats absolutely terrible. Glad its in a good home now. Heat mats get hot as hell. I remember when I first set my balls cage up, i hadnt gotten a thermostat yet and was shocked to see the temps go so high so quickly. I remember it got to like 125 in a few mins. I didnt have my ball yet so it wasnt in there...

The best part is that when you go to petco/petsmart/other pet stores, its really hard to find a thermostat sold at one of these places. They all have heat rocks (ugh), mats, lighting, TIMERS, etc.... but nothing to control your temps with.

While my ball had the aquarium, I even made a dimmer for his lamp, which was a great feature.

Anyways, rambling now....unregulated heat mats = bad news.