Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We moved to relying on only ambient room temps about 2 years ago and have experienced no problems with eating, RIs, etc. but lately we've been discussing how or if to adjust the temps now that breeding season is here.

If you heat your ball pythons by controlling the ambient room temperature instead of using heat tape or other direct heating methods, do you lower the ambient temps to encourage breeding? If so, how low do you go to at night and down to what temp during the day?

Thanks for any feedback.
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Alice Cobb
Florida Reptile Room

Alice,

What I've always done is keep temps during day around 84-85 and allow natural cooling at night. Right now I'm getting down to around 80-81 degrees and during the coldest time in january I should be getting down to around 77. Granted I'm a little colder up here in SC than you are down there but I would expect that you would still get down to around 79-80. I'm also considering going down to around 82 during the day to see if that has any effect on breeding and feeding.
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Josh & Krysty Hutto

Various Ball Pythons, boas, dogs, cats, fish, a couple sulcatas and a few other odds and ends.

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

I basically try and have to the room about the same temp all year....
it doesn't work...winter can be a pain....
actually right now the temps are higher than I want, new heater, not working out yet....it's either 80 or 88...I can't hit the middle all the time...

anyways...balls know it's winter....

light cycle here has been dropped by 2 to 4 hours a day or more....

and the walls behind the racks are colder....
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........JY

Are a lot of people forgoing the heat tape for just overall room temp? I was thinking about doing this. Thought about 85-86 degrees.
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doubleareptiles@gmail.com

Been doing this for YEARS.........keeping ambient room temp about 86-88 in off season, and 82-85 in breeding season. Doesn't take much of a drop, but I keep a window uncovered year round. I think that the light cycle has alot to do with it. I have been breeding this way for about 4 years, never had a slug on an infertile egg. Might just be luck, but maybe the ambient heating has something to do with it........

Jason
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jason.trott78@yahoo.com

Alice,

Here is a video I put on Youtube that might help you.

Good luck with your season.
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Brian Gundy

www.for-goodness-snakes.com

They realy don't need any cooling to breed.

Hi,

I only use ambient room temps in my snake building in the mid-summer when it the air temps reach or supercede my hot spots. In Western NY, this only occurs during July and early/mid August. When the daytime highs reach the low 90's my tapes are turned off.

As we approach winter, my building naturally gets quite a bit cooler, so The tapes/cables maintain a warm spot even as the ambient air temps cool down into the low 60s at night. I allow this because my kingsnakes, diamond and Boelen's pythons appreciate the cooler nights. Interestingly, the balls, green tree and carpet pythons often select these cool temps even when they have access to a tape or a warm bulb. They do this even with full bellies, as my snakes eat all through the winter. It is interesting to see that these pythons can tolerate, in fact thrive with such a great variation in temperature. I have been breeding balls since '95 and almost never gets slugs or infertile eggs, even since I have allowed them to dip into temps that many claim to be dangerously low. I believe the key is choices. If we give them the option to get warm when they need to, they can handle getting a bit cooler without problems. Thanks.

Will

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Alice Cobb
Florida Reptile Room

We do the same thing...we let the temps go to 82 @ night. I also think the light cycle makes a difference.

Here is what I've found about the weather in Ghana:

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/geography/climate.php

"The harmattan, a dry desert wind, blows from the northeast from December to March, lowering the humidity and creating hot days and cool nights in the north. In the south the effects of the harmattan are felt in January. In most areas the highest temperatures occur in March, the lowest in August."

I wonder if our winter fronts and furnace dried air plays bigger rolls in breeding than actual temperature change or light cycle. The chart doesn't really show much variation in temps. Looks like maybe 8 deg on low temps and 10 on highs with August the coolest. Maybe that does start their breeding cycle that early as they do hatch a month or two earlier than most here but I still wonder if it's the harmattan that is the key after seeing lots of locks around low pressure systems.

And of course the day and nights tend to stay pretty EQUAl and constant that close to the EQUAtor.