Hey guys,

I've been using this site for snake care for a while and now I have a question I can't seem to find the answer to!

I have a hatchling nelson's milksnake, he is a real little fella. I have him in a 15gal glass tank (leftover from when I used to keep mice, figured I might as well use it) and it's full of plants, hides, etc. so he'll be nice and cozy despite the larger tank size.

I'm using a light dimmer temporarily, planning to get a Herpstat Intro+ on my next payday. The light dimmer works wonderfully but I have to fiddle with it.

Where do I measure the temps? Directly ON TOP of the aspen, or directly UNDER on top of the glass/newspaper?

Right now I have it so on top of the aspen is 80-82F (It fluctuates a bit with ambient heat and also the thickness of the substrate, an inch to the left might be a bit lower or higher). Underneath, directly on the newspaper/glass, is 95-96F. I just want to make sure that's not TOO HOT. Because he is very tiny and spends all of his time burrowed under the aspen, I don't want him laying on the glass and burning himself. The cool end is 70-75 btw.

If I want the aspen to be a steady 85, the glass ends up being above 100F, even up to 105 which is too hot in my opinion... so I've been keeping it on the low 80s so he won't burn himself digging down.

Am I doing this right?? He seems to be okay and ate his first meal here last night. He is pretty terrified of me haha.

When I do get my Herpstat what temp do I set the stat to? If I set it to 95F it should mimic the setup I have right now. But I know cornsnakes can die at such high temps, and I dunno what the limit for a milksnake is...