Hi all,

I am having issues with heating my 7 month old boy's tub. He is the first animal i've ever had that needs heating equipment and to say I'm anxious is an understatement.
Originally I was using an UTH and a CHE overhead on the hot side, both hooked up to a herpstat thermostat. Today I added a 50watt CHE (with thermostat) on the cool side because I live in a basement apartment and the ambient temp was just getting too low on the cool side. (Luckily, the surface temps in the hot hide at least have been right on.)

The thing that's causing me so much anxiety is the CHE and ambient temps. My thermostat probe for the CHE and my hot side thermometer/humidity reader are both at the same height in the cage, just on front side vs back side, while the cool side thermostat probe is almost next to the other thermometer--but the readings between the thermometers and their respective thermostats are COMPLETELY different.

Before the second CHE, the hot side thermostat was set to 88 while the thermometer across from it would rarely get above 84, usually closer to 80-82 during the day and 78 at night. The cold side would go from the 78 during the day and 72 at night.
As I type this, the hot side thermostat is showing 88 but the regular thermometer is only at 78, while the cool side is 82 thermostat vs 75 thermometer. I imagine they are a little lower than usual right now because i had the tub lid off for a short while to get the second CHE squared away.

I feel like I've read everything there is to read about ambient tank temps and nowhere can I find an answer to this. I don't know whether to crank the thermostat settings up so that the thermometers show it as warmer, or to turn it down because 88 is too high of an ambient temp.

He seems to be behaving normally (I think!). during the day he seems to be almost exclusively in his cool hide (except for a couple days after he ate when he went over to the hot hide). He likes to watch me while I'm on my computer in the evenings and I know he is out exploring at night because I can see the evidence of him moving around. I took him out the other day and he was absolutely friendly, not balled up at all.

I just love this boy so much and I'm straight up freaking out about his heating. I don't want to hurt him. Any help or advice would be appreciated.