I'm almost certain that my probes aren't placed correctly. I've got a 20 gallon tank and I've laid down a little bit less than an inch of Eco-Earth crushed up coco. I've got an overhead lamp. I've got a heat pad under the tank. And I've even got a little blacklight that's putting out a little bit of heat. My temps are reading around 78-79 on the hot side and 76ish on the cool side. If I put one of the probes under the tank and let it sit to touch the heat pad, it's at about 96 degrees. If I dig through a little bit of the substrate, I can feel it getting warm. I've had the heat pad on for about an hour and a half now. Should I just try and remain calm and let it do it's thing to warm the whole way through and let him burrow down to it? I've got the little cheapy yellow thermometers with the probes on them and my question is where the heck am I supposed to put the probes? I can't tell if I've got things set up right if my probes aren't in the right spot. Do I put them above the substrate, on it, in it? Right now, I've got them about 1/2 an inch above the substrate, pegged to the back wall. Based upon the readings, I can't imagine that's correct. My next question, I bought an Accurite combo. However, it doesn't have the probes. Do I need to get one with probes? Right now, it says my humidity is sitting around 78%. I do have a pretty big tub of water in there with him, but I can't picture that being the issue.

He definitely looks a lot better than he did yesterday. More hydrated. The little leftover pieces of shed are gone from his scales and it seems like he's wheezing less, if at all. Still trying not to handle him much. He's still doing a lot of nosing around on the top of the cage, and I don't know what that's all about, trying to get out? Help a brother help a herp out, please.

Thank you,
-Brock