Are you measuring the temperature with any kind of substrate? If not, keep in mind that some substrates, or any THICK substrate, will reduce the effectiveness of an UTH even more. It's best to stay with a fairly thin substrate layer if you are using a UTH with nothing else.



But it is a common problem in glass tanks with screen tops to only have a hot area at the very bottom of the tank, since all of the other heat will escape out of the top. You might affect this by putting some sort of cover over the screen top (such as foam insulation board or plastic, leaving a small area for ventilation).



However, if your snake spends most of its time ON the cage floor, and the temperatures measured at the floor level above the substrate are warm enough, this may be acceptible. If your snake is more of a climber at this point (I know you said "terrestrial" but sometimes younger boas like to climb), you may want to add an overhead heat source as well.



The problem you're having happens a lot with glass tanks especially in colder climates - I know I went through a LOT of heaters when I primarily used glass tanks, and now have moved to other types of enclosures instead.



Good luck, try insulating the top (and some people insulate the back of the tank, too, with Reflectix or foam insulation to help keep some more heat in) and see if that helps.
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Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com

1.0 Ball Python, 1.0 Hog Island Boa (RIP DeeDee), 1.1 Hypo BCI, 1.1 Surinam BCC, 0.1 Green Tree Python

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