Hi,
It depends what kind of thermometer it is and where you are measuring temps I'm afraid.
If it is one of those little round analogue ones they are, sadly, complete junk.
What we recommend is the digital acurite weather stations with the probes you can buy at walmart for about $12.
You want to measure the temps in a few different places to get an idea of what is actually going on in the tank.
Under the substrate under the warm end hide - this should be the hottest place your snake can reach and you want it to be around 93-95f.
On top of the substrate inside the warm end hide - this should be around 92-94f.
On top of the substrate inside the cool end hide - you want this to be around 80-83f.
That's why the probe is so handy - it can be easily moved .
The base unit of the acurite measures temp and relative humidity so you can put that on the cool end to get a fair idea of ambients. ( note some snakes delight on peeing on them.).
Have a read through the caresheet to see if it gives you any more questions.
The reason you need the control on the heatmats is that some of them can get over 120f if not controlled and this is easily hot enough to burn your snake.
dr del
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