I'm glad this got brought up because i have been wondering ambient temp vs. hot spot. I just got an animal plastic rack with heat tape to replace my old melanin rack which used heat wire. Since i made the switch over i have been keeping track of the ambient temps on the hot and cold side of the rack as well as religiously using my temp gun.

I noticed that while my temp gun reads the bottom of the rack as 88 to 90 on the hot side ( hot spot) and the floor of the cold side as 74-80; the ambient temperatures vary significantly and fluctuate a lot during the day. Since my ambient temperature are being recorded from close to the top of the enclosure i figured that as long as the floor is reading the proper temps i should be fine.

I was wondering what everyone's thoughts were and if i need to make adjustments. I have a space heater regulating the room temperature so i can use it more if i need too.

Thanks.