Quote Originally Posted by shuperkewl View Post
i also want to know if it is essential to have a thermostat for my heating mats, and aprox how much of the tank base should they be warming up??? (like 1/2, 3/4 or something?)
Yes it is essential to have a thermostat. Always Always Always. Many times these heat mats have caused burns on the snakes due to malfunctions and there was no safety off. When many of these heating pads fail, they fail on, and continue to heat up, not turn off.

I recommend herpstats by spyder robotics, mine are accurate to a tenth of a degree.

I also have the uth on a little over 1/4th of my tank. I also recommend the ultratherm heat pads from reptile basics. http://www.reptilebasics.com/ultratherm-heat-pads