Ack! I missed that...thanks blackcrystal. It DOES look like the pad is set long way in the center. But if you say it's on one side then ok.

Eventually, the thing you'll want to get to is to have a pad covering 1/3 the bottom on each side (ie 1/3 warm, 1/3 neutral center, and 1/3 cool) hooked up to it's own t-stat or a Herpstat II which can control two separate temps. Like I said, even the ZooMed stats are a ton better than rheostats until you can save up for the better ones like Johnson or Herpstat.

A 'sad' fact of pet keeping is that the initial costs for setting everything up properly can be really high, especially when dealing with heating for reptiles. But it pays off to get the right stuff right away since it will work properly for a long time, leaving you to enjoy your pet with only day to day care to worry about.