Heating pad unstuck

[nvmycj]

A hygrometer placed against damp substrate will fail soon. The sensors don't tolerate standing water on them, even condensation. If you measure RH, measuring the RH in the enclosure itself seems typical. Measuring the general enclosure temp with that meter is useful too.

When you get your thermostat, the thermostat probe gets fastened (taped) between the heat pad and the bottom of the enclosure on the outside of the enclosure. Then use an IR temp gun to determine what probe temp corresponds to what hide temp -- so if you're targeting 85F as a hide temp, and that temp is reached when the thermostat probe is at 90F, then set the thermostat to 90F and do periodic spot checks with the IR gun to make sure the hide temp is appropriate.

On burrowing -- I'm going off script, since I only keep one BP. But my understanding is that BPs do live in burrows in the wild, but they don't dig those burrows (they're sure not adapted to do so). That implies that they should be given burrow-like hides (I'm a big user of cork rounds wherever possible -- many herps seem to really get a lot of use out of them) but not necessarily substrate that encourages burrowing. Giving them enough substrate so they can use it to choose to be a little more moist (by scootching down into damp substrate) is a good idea though, as is offering a wide range of moisture and temperature gradients throughout the enclosure.

OMG! I've been doing the temp prob wrong too!!!

Looks like I'm heading to store to get a SEPARATE hygrometer and a SEPARATE thermometer prob and thermostat!!! Do you suggest a specific brand?

Once I get the heat pad and warm hide temp regulated, will I need a tank thermometer to monitor the tanks temp?