On the hot side you should have a heating pad regulated by a thermostat. If you only have one snake I would suggest the hydrofarm tstat on amazon. Its $33 shipped I believe and from what I hear works pretty well. I plan on getting a couple pretty soon. But you should NEVER have a great pad that is not regulated. Set the tstat to about 90 and place the probe UNDER the tank between the heat pad and the bottom of the cage.