Hey guys, so I'm helping my boyfriend set up a terrarium for a ball python he's getting this weekend. Everything is set up nicely, hides and humidity are great as well as ambient, the only issue I'm having is some discrepancies with what my Jumpstart thermostat reads and what my temp gun AND probed thermometer read. It's been a while since I've set up a terrarium for any sort of reptiles (my last being a leopard gecko several years ago) so I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong.
Basically, I have a medium-low exoterra with an 11x11 reptile basics heat mat (probed and controlled with a Jumpstart thermostat) taped to the underneath of the cage on the hot side. After a couple days use and temps not reading what I want them to be (thermostat saying 92 while my probed thermo and temp gun say 78) I felt underneath the tank and the aluminum tape I had used to secure the heat pad has peeled and essentially allowed the thing to hang down, not transferring heat to the cage. To remedy this I cut pieces of styrofoam to (roughly) fit the underneath of the tank and slid them under to hold the heat mat flush against the glass, since we had already set the cage up with substrate and hides in order to get temps and humidity perfect in advance and didn't want to dump everything out. Since I did that yesterday with the styrofoam the temps have gotten much better but my Jumpstart is still reading much warmer than my temp gun and probed thermometer are. I touched the glass directly above the heat mat, underneath the substrate, and it feels too cool, but I lifted the cage once more to check if maybe the styrofoam had gotten caught on an inner lip and was allowing a gap and don't think that's the case.
Currently my Jumpstart is set to 94 and is reading 92.4.
My dual thermometer/hygrometer is reading 78.1 on the cool side and 89.4 on the warm side, probe sitting above the substrate.
The glass underneath the substrate on the hot side reads 82.9, leading me to believe the temp of the surface substrate is due to a heat lamp being used to control ambient. The lamp has been on full blast lately as I've been trying to correct the temperatures.
Do you think there is a problem with my thermostat, possibly my heat mat? Am I doing anything wrong? Thought I would ask before I dismantle the thing and flip it over to see what (if anything) is causing a gap.
Thanks in advance
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