"My small zoo med also doesn't "feel" warm to the touch, but without a thermostat it reaches well over 130 degrees above the glass according to my temp gun, and that's with paper towel on top of it. Regardless of how you think it feels, you need a thermostat. Feed out of the enclosure all you want, but using a thermostat is not debatable. I can't stress it enough, I can find more evidence of severe burns from "luke warm feeling" UTHs if you want more proof...
Just because it hasn't happened to you yet, doesn't mean it won't..."

Like I said, I don't use them anymore, so that's not a concern.
And I mean "did not get warm to the touch" as in "this thing is so damn cold the cool end is identical"-cool, even after scraping all of the substrate away and feeling the glass directly above the heating mat. Perhaps the ones I got were just of a very poor quality, or (seems unlikely) all three had sustained some kind of damage?
I don't know, but I'd rather not mess with them at all when a ceramic heat emitter can keep both sides at a proper temperature. I'll definitely go for a digital thermometer as soon as possible. As for a thermostat that raises or lowers temperatures itself, I'm still extremely cautious here. Why do I need one if I don't use a UTI?
I'm genuinely afraid that it's going to malfunction due to water spills or for any other interference or reason, and if it runs the risk of frying my snakes...I have to disagree on how debatable using one is.


"I've used them with lizards/amphibians, but I wouldn't use them with my bp - the ones I've seen deliver a constant haze of mist, resulting in heavy condensation, which is far more humidity than the poor guy needs (even in a shed). I suppose there may be models that mist at intervals... but that still seems excessive to me."
I think a simple automatic light timer or something might work well enough. The reason it occurred to me was due to my Nicci promptly going and hiding under his greenery like it's an umbrella, because he dislikes me misting him so much. I thought that not only could I rig that up to where it doesn't touch or disturb him, but it would be a lot less invasive than wrenching the lid up just to spray him down and close it again several times a day. Best of all, I wouldn't have to worry about his humidity dropping, even if I'm gone all day upon occasion.

What about waterfall filters in a drinking/soaking bowl, to both filter the water and help raise humidity and cut back on the need to mist and disrupt them? I've seen these used on a lot of reptiles and especially amphibians. My boy loves soaking in the sink and swimming in the tub, so the thought of a little miniature snake-sized pond (not with deep water, of course), rather than just a bowl for him to climb into should he so desires, really intrigued me.

"I use ground coconut husks for substrate, which retains moisture very well, combined with a large water dish and I haven't had any issues with humidity - even in arid Colorado with the heat on all winter."
Isn't that akin to sand, which is highly inadvisable for BPs? I saw ground walnut shell bedding that looked and felt identical to sand, so I wouldn't touch it, myself.