Alright, so, I finally got my new AP T3 all set up. The flexwatt is taped to the bottom with aluminum foil tape and the Herpstat probe is in the spot that's carved out for the probe, between the flexwatt and the bottom of the cage. I initially set the Herpstat to about 98 degrees F, since that seemed to be the temperature that worked well for the UTH on my glass tank. That was last night. This morning, I checked the temperature (I have an Acu-rite thermometer and the probe is drilled into place right in the middle of the flexwatt hotspot) and it's 82 degrees F. Ok, so I turn the Herpstat up to 104 degrees F. When I checked on it again tonight, the Acu-rite read 84 degree F. What the heck. So I check the Herpstat probe, it seems to be in the right spot. I touched the flexwatt and it's definitely hot.

Are the PVC cages really this resilient to flexwatt heating? The only thing I could think of that I'm doing wrong is that I have the cage propped up off of the surface it's on by about 1.5 inches, because I wasn't sure it would be a good idea to have the flexwatt directly on a tablecloth (I have a tablecloth on this table in order to hide all of the reptile supplies under it. I have a small apartment, I have to be creative sometimes). So...any ideas on this one?