Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if there was any way you could use a heating rock in your ball pythons tank instead of a heating pad.

Can heat rocks be used. Yes. Should they be used for snakes. NO! NO! NO! Why not, you may ask, I see them in pet stores being used for snakes all the time.

http://www.ahc.umn.edu/rar/MNAALAS/Snakes.html
Burns: Snakes commonly sustain serious burns when they contact unprotected or malfunctioning heat lamps or other heat sources (including hot rocks). Interestingly, snakes tend not to move away from the heat source inflicting the injury. This makes the wound considerably more serious. Medical treatment (including injectable antibiotics and periodic wound dressings) is required in these cases. Surgery may be necessary to minimize the disfiguring effects of such injuries.

http://www.[bleep]/articles/heat_rocks.htm
"Thermal burns may result from any source of heat. Heat sources that allow direct contact between the captive reptile and t he source, such as hot rocks, heating pads, or spotlights within the cage, are most often implicated in burn cases. Burns may be prevented by keeping heat sources outside of the cage or shielding them to prevent contact with the captive reptile. Backup thermostats should be wired into the system in case the primary thermostat malfunctions."

http://www.petsnakes.co.uk/Under_The_Spotlight/Heat___Safety/heat___safety.html
Using unguarded bulbs or ceramics is simply asking for trouble. If you or I touched a very hot surface the nerve endings in your skin would send messages to your brain telling you that the surface was hot and you would pull your hand away. Reptiles have very few nerve endings on their bellies and will sit on hot surfaces for long periods of time without realising that they are burning.

I have seen the results of various thermal burns to snakes and lizards. These burns tend to go very deep into the flesh of the animal and cause irrepirable scarring. The burns on one lizard were so bad that his internal organs had virtually melted together. One snake had wrapped itself around a heat bulb and had stuck to the hot glass.

These injuries are horrific and completely avoidable.

In other words, don't do it. You are asking for problems and your snake deserves much better.

I really do not like heat rocks. Had a childhood pet iguana who got fried on one.
The problem with them is, their surface is irregular, allowing heat pockets (of super-concentrated heat) to build up between the rock and the animal's body. And reptiles such as lizards and snakes, cannot feel the heat burning them (they have no nerves in the belly that feel such things.) So they sit merrily on the rock while it burns them up!
I have even noticed that the heatrock companies have given some care to this matter; most of their boxes say "not for use with ball pythons." This could be because of the Bp's habit of coiling up in one warm spot for hours on end, which would endanger them with getting fried...
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2.1 Ball pythons: Goblin, Ashes, and Bela
1.0 Boa Constrictor Imperator: Apache Fog
0.1 albino Cranwell's horned frog: Bene
1.0 Tiger salamander: Slasher
1.1 breeding Clawed frogs: Mr and Mrs Piggy
1.0 black kittycat, Inky
A bunch of Oscar cichlids, one giant pleco, huge breeding lot of "fancy" (read: deformed) goldfish, and me an' the boyfriend.

Heat rocks should be outlawed, they kill and maim and that is about it. The only time I ever saw one used without injury was due purely to very extreme care taken by the user - he happened to be a sheet metal worker. What he did was to make a metal box around the heat rock that was big enough to allow several inches of air space around the rock which disapated the heat pockets. Then he "welded" or "sealed" the box so that there was no way for anything to get inside the box. I'm not sure what he used around the cord though. Better to just buy a better heat source to begin with.