I need some help before I purchase my BP. Recently my husband said he was cool with me getting a BP, he prefers our reptiles have legs, he's not a snake guy- lol. (in my head: hurry run, get everything you need before he changes his mind!!!!) this has been one of the more difficult enclosures to hone in (and I have a custom chameleon enclosure with drainage and auto-mister -lol).

I want to make sure temps and humidity are spot on before I bring a BP home. I have had my tank up for a couple weeks. Humidity is steady at 60-70%, but I am struggling with temps.


Here's what I got:

I have a 36" long exo terra with foam back wall insert. Under tank heater (flukers) that covers slightly more than 1/3 of the tank, and is on a thermostat. I will attach pictures so that you can see the inside decor/hides and such. The substrate is 1/2 paper towel, this is on the warm side above the UTH to help the BP get his belly heat. The other half is moist but not overly, ReptChip (not the zoo med junk). On top I have tried several combinations to keep in the heat. Aluminum foil did practically nothing, leftover plexiglass from another build did ok, not great, and I'm currently trying out board insulation. I check my temps 2 ways, I have a Fluke heat gun, and I also have 2 thermometers inside the tank.


Here's my issue: we keep our house around 65 during the cold months and 70 during the summer. I can get the "cool" side up to 78-85, but when I do the "hot" side soars past 95 sometimes closer to 105. When I get the "hot" side dialed in the cool side barely hits 75. I'm losing my mind here. I have tried dome lights(both red and blue nighttime bulbs), currently running an exo terra hood. I cannot be the only person to use a glass exo-terra, what on earth.

I'm not the kind of person to buy a pet and figure it out later and I was hoping to pick up my BP at a local reptile show on Saturday. Does anyone know of a better combination (fixtures/bulbs/heater I've never heard of) that can help me to dial in the temps better? I hate heat bulbs especially the red ones, I hate the way they look and they blow so easily. I have looked at radiant heat panels but with that high pricetag I dont want to buy it and still have the same issue. Has anyone had this same problem and feel up to sharing their solution and possibly some pics?

http://s86.photobucket.com/user/jjziemann/library/