Im setting up a 20 long for a king snake. (leaning towards Mexican Black) So far it consists of shredded aspen bedding, the obvious warm and cool hides and water bowl, I have a branch leaning at about 45 degrees up to a basking spot, and a few fake plants just for looks. My heating consists of a heat mat (11x11) which covers about 35% of the tank floor. I have the heat mat controlled by a thermostat set at 90 and the probe sandwiched between the heat mat and the glass, then i have the thermometer probe right on top of the glass and under the substrate in the warm hide. Even with the heat mat set to and staying at 90 degrees, I'm only reading about 79 degrees just on the other side of the glass in the warm hide. Is it normal to have a 11 degree difference with he only barrier being a thin piece of glass? Obviously the temp will be even a few degrees cooler on top of the substrate, so what temp should i aim for on the glass in the warm hide? How high can i set the heat mat and not have to worry about cracking the glass etc? 95, 100?



Btw, i also have a CHE set to 88 degrees directly over the heat mat, thats where the basking spot that i mentioned earlier is located.



Even with everything stated above, my cool side seems to stay at around 68 degrees. Is this ok? I know ideally it would be 70-75. Does it seem like I'm on an ok track? Any tips for me? thanks for your time and help!

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