heat question

ok guys i got i more question for ya.Ive seperated my ball pythons and got everything set up in the enclosure.Im using a 125 glass tank.I have heating pads under each side to give each snake a hotspot but according to my infared thermometer im only getting about 85 degrees in the hotspot and the rest of the enclosure is around 80-82...its just not working like it was before i divided it in half.Will the 85 degrees be enough in the hot spot.....i can increase the temp to about-90-91 when i have the overhead lamps on ,so can i leave them at 80 degrees at night and increase it to 90 during the day.Like i said before im new to this but i dont want to make a serious mistake that could hurt my snakes.Any help would be greatly appreciated.thanks in advance.
David

WOW thats a huge tank for a bp... How big is your snake? Also in that big of a tank its going to be difficult to maintain proper temps/humidity... You might want to go smaller.... :2cent:

You could buy an infrared/ceramic/black bulb to run 24/7 to make sure your temps are perfect all day long. The problem with temps in the lower 80's is an increased chance of a respiratory infection.

I had a hard time getting my temps right with UTH. Heat cable works really well.

ok i went this morning and got a 55 gallon tank and divided it into two parts,ive got everything set back up and my temps now are around 88-90 in the hotspot and 83-85 in the cold spot,do you think this is enough or do i just need a whole new heating system........the snakes seem fin right now,no sign of any respetory problems at all,the snakes both mostly stay in their hides and the temps in there are 85-86 degrees.

oh and something else,i dont have a way to measure the humidity but i have two large water dishes in there and they will evaporate in a day and a half an dive noticed that i had a knife laying close to the enclosure and it rusted in a few hours......so im betting that my humidity in the cage is pretty high.....is this something i need to check several times a day like the temps

yeah u need to also be able to check humidity along with temps. getting an accurite digital thermometer will help.