That's silly, why would the bigger cage be less expensive Ah well, then as someone with a T8, do you notice a major difference in humidity and heat when you've got the door open for extended periods of time, such as during cleaning or feeding (if you feed in enclosure)? Ambient in my apartment is 70º/20% in the winter and seems to suck out the tank heat and humidity like a vacuum if I've got the towel off for more than a few moments. Like I said, the fluctuation doesn't seem to bug him much but as an animal with special requirements I do worry that it might. That's the main reason I want a PVC cage, and if that doesn't fix it then I'll get creative on what to do otherwise

I haven't seen much fluctuation on the thermostat itself; I set it to 100, turns off as soon as it gets there and may get up to 102 from residual heat, turns back on at 98 but may drop to 96 before it starts really warming up again. With my temp gun I've noticed the substrate under the hide hits 88 at coldest and 92 at warmest, so unless a 4º difference is bad I haven't had a problem with that. Would a proportional thermostat keep it at a constant 90º?

Does the T8 have a slightly elevated bottom like a tank's? If not, how would I keep a flexwatt secured to the bottom from making my enclosure into a see-saw or worse, lighting my table on fire? As for heat panels, are they truly unable to burn your snakes or is that just marketing (like heat rocks)? How would I secure the probe directly underneath one (hovering in the air?), or does that mean I would just put the probe on the substrate beneath one? I told you, I'm full of really dumb questions.

Thanks tlich, I'll definitely look into that as well. I'm an art student, maybe I can get fancy and paint the side facing inwards a nice rainforesty theme He might not notice but it'll make his tank look more attractive in the mean time.