Hello everyone! I am new to this forum and I just got my first pet snake! I have been researching like crazy for the last couple of months, using this web site as a resource. I have a few questions that was not about to come to a conclusion about on my own. First, I see a lot of discourse here and on other sites about the ideal substrate. I had planned on using aspen, but now I am questioning my choice. I noticed in the thread here on tank set up that they recommend aspen, but others do not agree with that. What are your opinions?

Second, is it normal for an UTH to have inconstant temps across its surface? I ordered a UTH from Reptile Basics .com based on recommendations I saw on this forum. I wanted to ask if this is typical or not before I attempt to contact the site. I have at least one patch that is the idea temperature, and I have been checking the temps constantly to make sure nothing changes. I do have a rheostat attached to it. An additional issue related to this that I have is that I cant seem to get the center of the heat mat to rest against the tank bottom. This is not just because I put the probe sandwiches between the glass and the UTH as suggested in the tank set up thread. This also does not account for the inconstant heats inside as when I feel the heat mat on the bottom, I feel very different areas of warmth.

Lastly, any advice on noob mistakes I can avoid? I did my best to research but I wouldn't be surprised if I missed something.

I would really appreciate any feedback you guys can give! Thank you in advance!