Maintaining comfortable temperature questions

I have a daytime heating lamp bulb for Brego that I turn on when I wake up and turn off when I go to bed every night, and then a heating pad that is on the side of his tank and is in constantly. I've noticed on the thermometer that's inside his tank closer to the warm side, that in the night it's gotten about 70 degrees or a bit cooler, and I'm concerned that it might be too cool for his comfort? What are your opinions on a nighttime lamp? How do y'all keep your tanks at the right temperature constantly?

By the way, apologies for the frequent posting these past couple of days, I haven't had Brego a week yet and I'm still trying to figure out a few things


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the heat pad should be on the bottom, not on the side. Heat rises. A few people do use heat lamps but most of us do not. The heat pad should do the trick.

The thermometers you have stuck to the side of your tank are useless. Unless your snake has figured out a way to hang onto the side of your cage, why would it matter what the temp is? Now, my snake crawls on his belly along the bottom of the cage, Therefore that's where I measure the heat.

A heat pad is not designed to heat the entire cage. It's designed to heat that 1 small area of glass that it's attached to.

And of course, a thermostat should always be used with "Any Type" of heat source.

Yep, I was told by our shop to put the heat pad on the side too. Just doesn't make any sense! Mine went under the bottom of the enclosure the next day, and our snake was much happier for it - more active and friendlier to handle.

My understanding is that the thermostat probe and the thermometer probe go on the floor of the enclosure to maintain and measure the temperature of the floor, not the temperature of the air. This enables the snake to have a "maximum" to warm itself on, leaving it with the option to wander off to cooler areas to thermoregulate. But please someone step in and correct me if I'm wrong - I am pretty new to this myself!

This seems to be all simple, straightforward stuff - why on earth do some shops give out this duff "heat pad on the side" advice? Our shop even dissuaded us from installing a thermostat!

Manufacturers of heat pads like Zoo Med also include instructions to put it on the side. I suspect it's to reduce the instances of lawsuits they might lose where someone puts a pad under a tank or viv with no gap for the heat to escape and it catches fire. They do explain to use the rubber feet, but I guess it's easier to just assume people will be stupid and not read directions than actually provide adequate directions... :shrugs: