skinnyrascal I am glad you did not shut you heat down, you would have had all kinds of issues.

Ideally the temps should be close to 90ºF for the warm side and 80ºF cool side and the ambient air temps you have a bit more flexibility 78-85ºF range that can be quite difficult in a cool room. I would suggest you get a probed thermometer especially as the zilla T-stats are not reliable temp wise. You will need a decient thermometer to help get it set. Be very careful with the zilla pad it will deliver very hot temps with no regulation. Not all pads will but the zilla is not among the new generation of them.

For a thermometer I would suggest the cheapest digital unit you can fine. All the inexpensive ones are about the same accuracy (+/-2ºF or worse) and this is just not good enough really. The solution is either spend buckets of cash (buy a better T-stat first) or buy a few (4 or more) the same and check them against each other typically you will find two that read the same these usually are close to correct. This is the only way to get cheap and 1/2 way accurate at the same time.
something like this... I usually buy 10-20 at a time eliminate 3-6 as incorrect and the rest become extras. I replace them at the first sign of damage to the cords or probe.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-LCD-...item439ed521dd

I am not a fan of the zilla T-stat (using the term loosely) they often have a great deal of back lash (swing) and hysteresis. Keep a very close eye on the temps with this unit you may see extreme spikes especially with a higher wattage pad.