It may be that Zombietox understands better if she reads individual answers to her questions (I know I have a hard time with care sheets myself)
Zombie, first things first. The heat mat should be attached to the bottom of your tank. I peel the cover off the heat pad (also called a ITH) and take metal foil tape and attach it to the sticky side of the hear pad. That way I can use extra tape and attach it to the bottom of the tank without it being permanent. It goes on the bottom of the outside of the tank. If its having to be set half on and half off, it's too big for the tank.
Next, your thermostat. The Hydrofarm is great to start; that's what I have on my tank. Easy to use and easy to get on Amazon. That way it will regulate the temperature for you, and you won't have to keep checking it every hour
Now for thermometer/hygrometers. Infrared heat guns are good. I haven't got one yet; I use an Accurite 00891 model, which can be gotten from Walmart for $12.00 I think...really cheap. It has a remote probe that can be placed under the substrate in the tank on the hot side, and the body of the thermometer can be placed on the substrate at the cold end. The digital readout will tell you humidity, hot temp and cold temp.
i hope that helps; if you have any questions on what I wrote feel free to ask me
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