Quote Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant View Post
Those absolutely need thermostats... I have yet to come across one that did not.

Here are 2 good ones, the ones sold in pet stores are junk (overpriced too)

Budget: http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR.../dp/B000NZZG3S

Quality: http://spyderrobotics.com/

with 2.5-3 inches of substrate the heating pad isn't going to be able to get the right temperatures. they only heat the bottom of the cage and not the air in the cage so you will need a thin layer of substrate, 1/2" thick or less. Also simply having a thick substrate layer does;'t make it any sdafer. BP's can and aty times will dig down into their substrate and lay on the bottom of the tank (which with an unregulated heating pad can easily be hotter than 120 degrees.

Make sure that you put the probe of the act-rite on the floor of the cage directly over the heating pad
Just ordered the one from Amazon, I didn't realize they could get that hot! I was thinking of mainly having the pad heat substrate and not so much the air in the tank, then use a light for heating the air. Then I run into an issue with the humidity though... Would the infared light be fine to leave on at night too? I will remove some substrate in the morning, thanks again for the help. I'm glad i posted on the forum.