I'm using an AcuRite digital thermometer. The probe is in the left corner behind his hide. I tried placing it in the area that the heating pad is at. I moved the heat lamp over and the temperature went down by a degree or so and is now at 82.2, so needless to say, this is a little bit frustrating.

Do heating pads normally take awhile to get to a high temperature? I have the rheostat adjusted to "high" right now and it doesn't seem like it's doing too much.