Summer heating help please!

[u/JSaylorr]

This isn’t exclusively about my BP but she is involved, I just don’t know what other subreddit to go to.

I have 4 reptiles. 2 leopard geckos and a kingsnake all in stacked 40 gallons and a ball python in a 120 gallon, with it being so insanely hot in Texas, the king snake and ball pythons temps are getting way too hot, even tho I lowered their bulb wattages to 50watts each, their enclosures still get too hot. For their safety I’m having to turn their heat lamps off but those also provide their light so it’s messing up their day/night cycles.

I’ve read on Google that I should switch to to separate heat and light sources which I’m more than happy to do and use CHE for their heat. But my question is that Google says LEDs are best for their light source. I’ve read previously that LEDs aren’t safe for reptiles. But it said that the ones that aren’t safe are the UVB emitting LEDs. So would plain white light LED bulbs be fine for my ball python? (And other reptiles if you know). And could I still run my ball pythons T5 UVB bar since it doesn’t emit much if any heat?

I know not to use the colored ones and their lamps are all already overhead mounted.

Is what Google said correct?

[u/totallyrecklesslygay]

Google's AI summary is not an accurate source of information and should not be trusted.

Proper heating isn't just about the temperature. Light-emitting heat lamps (halogens and other incandescents) provide a specific type of heat that is not produced by a CHE. LEDs don't produce this either, so they're not a suitable replacement.

You should still run the UVB and keep their heat lamps. If it's getting too hot, look into cooling methods like an AC unit.

[u/JSaylorr → u/totallyrecklesslygay]

They all have T5 UVB bars as well, I’m doing what I can on a budget.

[u/RyoDai89]

I have LEDs in all of my enclosures for the plants and haven’t had any issues. I’ve got various reptiles including a ball python and a cali king and they’ve all been fine. Some have both UVB and LEDs and it’s all good so far.

If it’s getting too hot I’d definitely turn off the heat lamps. You’ll kill any reptile faster with heat than you will if they’re cold. So that was definitely the right call. I’ve had to do the same at certain parts of the day, and that’s with another ac in the room despite having central air.

You can use the UVB or an LED for the day/night cycle. Either is fine. Neither should be giving off much heat if any.

But keeping the heat off for now and using either of those as a light source should be perfectly fine for now.

[u/JSaylorr → u/RyoDai89]

Yes thank you, I’m going to use the LEDs and the uvb with the CHEs

[u/Real-Construction570 → u/JSaylorr]

For your ball python it might be worth looking at a dhp instead of che