Should I get another uth?

[Bennie1986]

I have a screen top and I'm worried about my temps. My hot side and cold side are 85f and 77f respectively. I have a 6x8 heater under her hot side hide and a 4x7 in the middle under the water dish both controlled by a thermostat set to 90f. I also have a heat lamp on a 12hr on and 12 off rotation. My temps dip 5 degrees at night. I have a notion to get an 10x11 uth for the hot side, have that and the 4x7 set to 90 and the 6x8 on the cold side set to 80. Can I get some opinions?

[Sauzo]

Well 77F cool side is fine but if it drops 5F at night, then 72F might be a little on the cool side. Have you covered about 80% of the screen top to try and hold in some heat? Or insulate the bottom with a piece of 1/2" plywood or cover the sides with dark craft paper. You don't need a 80F cool side. I keep pretty much all my guys and gals around 78-79F on the cool side and depending on their preferences, 86-90F hot spot. I would bump the hot spot up about 3-5F though. And how are you checking the temps? With a temp gun or the floor directly? Not on top of the substrate as the snake will push substrate aside to get down to the heat.

[Bennie1986]

Well 77F cool side is fine but if it drops 5F at night, then 72F might be a little on the cool side. Have you covered about 80% of the screen top to try and hold in some heat? Or insulate the bottom with a piece of 1/2" plywood or cover the sides with dark craft paper. You don't need a 80F cool side. I keep pretty much all my guys and gals around 78-79F on the cool side and depending on their preferences, 86-90F hot spot. I would bump the hot spot up about 3-5F though. And how are you checking the temps? With a temp gun or the floor directly? Not on top of the substrate as the snake will push substrate aside to get down to the heat.

I have the sides and back covered with cardboard with tin foil on the outside of that. I have a piece of cardboard wraped in foil covering 2/3 of the top and one under the entire tank. I have the thermostat probe under the sub on the larger heater but it hasn't been an issue yet. We are anal about keeping the tank clean so we check it often.

How hot can I set the stat safely?