is a UV light necessary?

[mykee]

Julian;

"what are we gonna do, respond like this to every new poster who "should" already know all the answers? lets just help the guy out shall we?
"

Not all the answers, ANY of them PRIOR to purchasing the animals.
BTW, 88-95 has been universally accepted as the desired temps for a ball python hot spot. Do you know something that far more respected and experienced breeders do not?

[Aaron_S]

Julian, how about we have an experiment? I'll keep my snakes at the desired temps. You can keep yours with 110 hot spots or at 75. Your choice. We'll see what happens to them in a month? in 3 months? in 6 months?

[citysnakes]

Originally Posted by mykee

BTW, 88-95 has been universally accepted as the desired temps for a ball python hot spot. Do you know something that far more respected and experienced breeders do not?

Mike, i have not said otherwise and i can agree with you and say that there are many, if not the majority, of ball python keepers out there who feel that an 88-95 degree temperature range is acceptable for a basking area.

i can also say that some may feel that a basking area, or hot spot of no warmer than 90 degrees should ever be exceeded. if you need a reference for that you can check out "Pythons of the World, Volume II" by D. Barker and T. Barker who are two far more respected and experienced breeders than you or I.

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

Julian, how about we have an experiment? I'll keep my snakes at the desired temps. You can keep yours with 110 hot spots or at 75. Your choice. We'll see what happens to them in a month? in 3 months? in 6 months?

Aaron, do i even need to adress this unscientific, extremely ignorant and not to mention completely sad, sorry excuse of an experiment? now why the heck would i even consider such an idiotic thing? this will prove nothing and we can already somewhat predict a few possible outcomes of each senario. sorry to be so blunt but c'mon man...

[Aaron_S]

It was sarcastic. In no way would I undergo such an experiment at the chance that your snakes would probably not function as well. Sorry I didn't put a proper smilie to indicate it as such.My honest mistake.

[mykee]

"i can also say that some may feel that a basking area, or hot spot of no warmer than 90 degrees should ever be exceeded."

Adrian, it's been a while since I've been in school, but 88 is still less than 90, right?

[citysnakes]

Originally Posted by mykee

Adrian, it's been a while since I've been in school, but 88 is still less than 90, right?

to my surprise you are correct! but if you are referring to the statement that 88-95 is generally accepted amongst keepers and relating it to the fact that i referenced two far more respected and experienced breeders who claim that greater than 90 should not be exceeded, then yes 88,89 are less than 90 but you must have overlooked the fact that 91,92,93,94 and 95 are greater... sorry.

[Aaron_S]

My hot spots are usually in the 89 - 91 degree area. I just know it's accepted to up as high as 95. I must retract my statement that it's "FACT" 90 - 95 is the "right" temperature. Due to some information that has come up. Mykee is still right that it's the most widely accepted.

[mykee]

My hatchlings are at 93 and my adults are at 94.

[Aaron_S]

Mine are that low because my borneo short tail resides in the same rack system for now. She prefers a bit lower than ball pythons so it's ample to fit both their needs. Any reason why the difference in yours Mykee?

[citysnakes]

my hatchlings are at 90-91 and my adults are at 88-90.

hey Mike did you get a prize from Aaron for being right??

[mykee]

Aaron; lower temps for the babies because they're tiny, I don't want to cook them. At least not until I have some friends over in the summer for a barbeque, babies are so tender, they also taste like chicken...
Julian; I sure did, and BOY! was it worth it!

[Aaron_S]

Julian, why do your temps differ? I'm asking out of pure curiousity.

[citysnakes]

Originally Posted by mykee

Julian; I sure did, and BOY! was it worth it!

im gonna imagine it was a PG rated gift. for my own sake...

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

Julian, why do your temps differ? I'm asking out of pure curiousity.

i give my hatchlings a basking temperature pretty similar to my incubation temps. nothing scientific here but i just figure that since they've been cooking for a couple months at 89-91 i dont wanna drastically change what theyve been used to so soon.

with my adults, i observe that they actively thermoregulate with these basking temps and an ambient temp of 80-82, rarely go off feed and seem pretty healthy. also i feel safer knowing that if there is ever a heat wave in the summer and my room jumps up a few degrees then it most likely wont get dangerously hot for them.

whatever, if it works for you, your animals and theyre healthy then its all good!

[Aaron_S]

So you keep babies at 89 - 91. Adults at 80 - 82. What do you keep sub adults at? In the middle or do you keep them as the adults? When do you switch the temps from "baby" to "adult" or "subadult"? I'm curious because I want to know how your snakes grow. I know it wouldn't be scientific but from your experiences do they grow at a different rate than a snake with a higher hot side? Of course you can only give an answer if you've ever kept snakes long enough at a higher temperature.

[Chu'Wuti]

I'm curious

Hah! I'm not the only one asking "Why" more than once! ;-) (Just teasing!)

Learning is good.