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What type of tops do you all put on your Ball Python's cages? Screen tops...Hard tops....both...

Thanks a head of time

lisa

If you plan to use heat lamps in a small enclosure, you will probably need a screen top to provide a basking area without over-heating the enclosure, but the humidity will most likely be too low and you'll have to mist the enclosure a few times a day during shed cycles. For larger enclosures with heat lamps, pegboard seems to work pretty good, still might need misting during sheds depending on ambient humidity. You're better off avoiding heat lamps and using belly heat (pad or tape) on one side of the enclosure for the thermal gradient. With heat pad or tape, you can design in appropriate ventilation and water bowl size depending on the ambient humidity of the room (maybe put the water bowl on the heated portion during sheds). Lots of things to consider, what's perfect for one person or part of the world could be totally wrong for someone else. Hope this helps.
Paul

I keep both my snakes in 40gal breeder glass aquaria. They came with screen tops, so thats what I use...but as noted, I ran into humidity problems when I first started. So, I just got a roll of duct tape and covered the entire top except a hole slightly larger than the heat lamp dome. My combination of UTH and lamp, both on seperate rheostats keeps temps perfect, while the excellent substrate I use combined with the covered lid allows me to maintain 70% ambient humidity for about 5 days without misting.

Jeremy

What type of substrate and lamp do you use? I have a 50 gallon breeder w/ screen top and of course I'm having humidity problems too.

I take 1 brick of shaved coconut shell (repti-bark i think?) and soak it in 4 quarts of hot water. That little brick absorbs it all!! I squeeze out the extra and put it on the newspaper which covers my tank bottom. Then I put about 1-2 inches of aspen over that so that my bp is not always on damp substrate. The covered screen top holds the humidity in perfectly. This method is THE BEST way to maintain humidity easily without constant spraying...for me. I completely change the substrate every 6 weeks, and just pick up the clumps of urates/poo in between changings.

My method of heating is a 30-40 gal sized UTH on a rheostat, usually set around medium. Then I have a 75 watt (100 watt on my other tank) bulb, that is also on it's own rheostat, usually set as low as it goes. You can play around with different wattages if you always use a rheostat or some kind of dimmer.

The covered lid not only holds in humidity but also maintains the temperatures with less variance and with less power consumption. Since my snakes are in glass aquaria in my basement bedroom where the temps are about 64, you may find that heat lamps are all together unnecessary for your purposes.

When I covered my sceentop, I did not leave any ventilation holes except for the gaps around the lamp dome. I didn't think it was necessary since the air changes every time I open the lid...atleast every other day, usually more often.

Hope this helps!

Jeremy

Im gettin my BP in about 2 weeks. I have a 20 gal long set up for it and eventually I'll move it into a larger tank, but for right now is all I need a heating pad? no heat lamp or anything else?

I can't tell you that for sure. You'll have to figure that out for yourself. Since you've got 2 weeks before you get your snake, I commend you for getting everything set up first! That is excellent advice for every pet owner!

You will most definately need a UTH. Get one that covers no more that 1/2 the tank bottom, and put a hide directly over it, and one more on the cool side. Go to Wal-mart and get an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer ($12.99) and carefully measure the temps of your substrate. No more than 92 on the hot side and no less than 75 on the cool side. If more heat is need, then by all means, go ahead and get a low wattage lamp. You should have all your heat sources on atleast a rheostat (dimmer switch). If you do end up using a lamp, do yourself a favor and cover the rest of the screen top.

You've got 2 weeks, so just experiment for a little while. Remember that a UTH by itself may take the better part of a day to warm the substrate enough for you to measure accurately.

Good luck!
Jeremy

Not something I worry about here in AZ. Getting the humidity high enough is usually my biggest battle. It's hard provide all the right answers for everyone, too many different circumstances. I fully agree with you on getting the set-up dialed in a few weeks before getting the animal.
Paul