I plan to get my royal within a couple of weeks and want to make sure the setup is perfect before he's here.

I will be using a wooden vivarium.. either 2 foot for a sub adult or if I find an adult 36" or 42" by 18". Should I go for a ceramic heat emitter on thermostat or a heat mat? From my experience with keeping lizards, I thought the heat mat would not produce enough air temperature. The room temperature here is around 70.

One more question.. when people say a hot end of 90-94, is that surface temperature of the substrate or air temperature?

thanks in advance for any help

lewis