Ok, here is the problem... Heating pads don't change the temperature of the air inside the cage, so you need a probed thermometer to measure how hot the hot side of your cage is. Further without a thermostat to regulate a heating pad they can and will get hot enough to kill your snake. You need to get a thermostat as soon as possible. stay away from the junk sold in petstores, There are good thermostats in all price ranges recommended in this thread: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers