basking lights in vivs?

Question
QUESTION: Hi paul....

I just want to query something ive been told by a pet store about basking lights....
what it is ive bought a royal python a few days ago and the pet shop went through everything with me and was very helpful but.....they mentioned that the basking light in the viv SHOULD be left turned on for 24hrs constant.
To me this doesnt seem right has snakes are night creatures and hunt for their prey at night.
With the basking light left on ive noticed that the viv doors are starting to get some condensation on it .....is this ok?

ANSWER: That doesn't sound right to me either. Snakes in the wild obviously can't bask 24 hrs a day. I would just leave it on about 6-8 hours per day.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: yea thats what i thought....the only reason i would suggest is that my set-up doesnt involve a heat mat.....do you think this would be the reason for this?

Answer
I'm not sure what type of minimum temps a python requires, but snakes in general need heat mainly for digesting food. Now if you have just fed the snake in the last 48 hours, then you might consider having the heat light on most of the day. Especially if your home temp is low (70ish). Otherwise the snake may regurgitate. When it's not actively digesting though, I would think that the heat lamp isn't needed but maybe 8 hours/day.