Temps sky high! Please help me control this!

[jclaiborne]

That's a pretty shallow tank and a strong light, I would get a heat emitter instead of a lamp and run it on a rheostat (dimmer). You will need to keep an eye on temps and adjust as needed. What about moving them into tubs or a more suitable reptile cage and using heat mats? You'll need thermostats to control them but will keep temps much more stable and safe. 98 is much too warm. 76 is probably ok for the cool side but if your temps are fluctuating that much could cause issues. I wouldn't take petcos advice on reptile keeping at all.

Incandescent lamps are no good for snakes, at all. I would never get advice again from petsmart or petco, its a joke. You can use infrared heat lamps effectively, or just grab a heat pad, and put it on a lamp dimmer from home depot.

Using a CHE vs an incandescent lamp vs halogen vs IR you run into the same issues, overheating and reducing humidity, a lot of people use lamps for snakes you just have to dial in the correct wattage. Saying an incandescent bulb is "no good" isn't necessarily true, which is why I asked about ambients in the room, sometimes heat mats aren't enough to keep up ambients. You can't speak in absolutes like that.