being new to this forum, I do not want to offend anyone but i have to say that I totally disagree with the information you provided. radiant heat panels ARE a very efficient way to provide an excellent gradiant. The problem with radiant heat is that it cant be accurately be measured by itself like objects that heat the air. Here is a perfect example, take a 30 deg. cloudy day and go outside wearing a white shirt, you will feel cold. Now take the same 30deg day add some Sun and put on a black shirt and you will feel warm ,if not sweat. However it was still 30 deg in both situations according to the thermometer. radiant heat warms objects which in turn heat the air,raising ambiant temps as a byproduct. In nature ball pythons spend most of their time hiding termite mounds or animal burrows that have been warmed by the OVERHEAD heat of the suns rays. there is no such thing as "belly heat" in the wild,only basking. Im not sure how you have your panels set up but mine work perfectly. I measure ambiant temps on the hot side at 86deg, cool side temps are set at 79 deg. and surface temps are measured by infrared gun at 92 deg. on the basking rock directly under the panel. I use a large flat rock to absorb the heat and warm the air. As for probe placement, I have my thermostat prob on the cool side and it is set to 79deg. ,the hot side stays at 86 deg. I place the probe on the cool side because even if the snake shadows the probe its still in no danger of overheating and if it goes back to the hot side it will no longer be shadowing the probe, therefore correcting the problem. Snakes are very smart and will self regulate if you give them both a cool sidde and a hot side
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