Need Temperature Gradient Help!

First time posting anything on this forum so if there's any information that I've missed then just ask and you shall receive. I'll be getting my first ball python tomorrow and I'm running around like a headless chicken trying to make sure the viv is as good as I can get it for him or her and I'm having a hard time setting up a good temperature gradient. I have the VivExotic Viva+ Medium Vivarium which is 34"(2.8ft) and for heating I'm using a 100W Ceramic Heat Bulb with a Habistat Pulse Proportional Thermostat, and a Habistat heat mat with a Habistat Mat Stat. The temperature differential within the tank only gets within 2C of each other and no more. Currently I have it set at 30C(86F) whilst the cooler end of the tank is at 28C(82F). I've tried using only 1 source of heat but It didn't make any difference. I heard having a good temperature gradient is important and I've read up on a bunch of different care sheets and most of the time they say I should have a gradient between 24-26C(71-78F) on the cool side and 30-33C(86-91) on the warm side. Is there anything I can do to increase the gap between the cool and warm side such as drilling small holes in the cool end? What's a good temperature gradient to have within the viv? Or am I just freaking out for no reason.

My ball has a heat pad under one hide that keeps it around 91F at the bedding. And another hide that has no heat pad on the opposite side. The ambient temp in the tank is 78 to 82 and he's a happy camper. So basically when he wants to warm up he's in the hot hide (not side) and any other time he's wherever he wants (he just switches hides really) because there's not an actual gradient. It works for him. And it should work for any ball.

It's really not too hard to keep a ball happy and healthy so don't over think it too much.

What is the surface temperature of the glass over the heat mat?

on the thermostat I have it set to 33C(91F) and I have the probe sat on top of the glass under the substrate

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Originally Posted by EnglishGuy

on the thermostat I have it set to 33C(91F) and I have the probe sat on top of the glass under the substrate

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The temperature probe or the thermostat probe? The thermostat probe should go between the UTH and the underside of the enclosure. If it's on the floor of the enclosure then your snake can move it, dump water on it, pee on it, etc. which will give a falsely low reading to the UTH and cause it to overheat.

You will need an infrared point thermometer or heat gun to measure the surface temperature of the glass under the substrate over the UTH.

I didn't think about that. Thanks for letting me know.gonna grab a heat gun later on in the week. is there any way that I could make the cooler end cooler whilst keeping the hot side at the desirable temperature? I was thinking about putting small holes in the cool side of the vivarium but I'm not sure

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Originally Posted by EnglishGuy

I didn't think about that. Thanks for letting me know.gonna grab a heat gun later on in the week. is there any way that I could make the cooler end cooler whilst keeping the hot side at the desirable temperature? I was thinking about putting small holes in the cool side of the vivarium but I'm not sure

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If I may... you're not likely to have a problem with the cool end of the viv being too warm. If anything, one has to make an effort to keep the ambient temperature of the whole viv high enough. If the cool side is too cool, your snake may become sluggish about feeding. Temperature drops are useful for breeding, though. I take it you are not preparing to breed ball pythons yet, as this is your first?:P

In my experience with Habistat (I'm from England too, my set up sounds much like yours except I no longer use a heat mat in my big vivexotic viv) just ignore the numbers on the stat. Mine is 'set' to about 28, but my ceramic bulb is heating the hot side to 33. My cold side is at 28c at the moment because it's really hot here at the moment, I posted about it here yesterday and the general consensus was that it shouldn't matter.