I am in the same boat as you, I have the Zilla t-stat 1000 w/ UTH
I ignored the "away from radiant heat source" directions because everything I have read on here says to place the t-stat probe between the UTH and the bottom of the enclosure. But when I do this I have to set my t-stat to like 105 to get it closer to the 90 I'm looking for right where the snake is laying.
Is this normal? Are other people having to do this too? It seems a lot less accurate.
I have a thermometer with probe directly on the floor in his warm hide.
When I first set everything up I had the tstat probe right next to the thermometer probe inside the tank and I honestly was getting better/more accurate readings like that. But I didn't want to risk him peeing pooping or moving it so I changed it. Now I'm confused