Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was so happy when i got the cage and everything else i ordered. Now i am depressed again. I havent been able to move my burm from her aquarium to her new vision becuase i cant heat it! I bought two 11"x11" desert ray radient heat panels from big apple. I set them both up on the inner wall of my vision, placed one of the probes of the thermometer an inch away from the panel, and one probe at the far right end with no heat source. The probe next to the heat panel reads 73 degrees. The probe on the far right reads 68. Im sooooo mad. The panels are hot the touch and i put the metal end of the probe directly touching the pad and it read 97. But then when i move it just a millimeter away with no direct contact, its 75. I dont understand this. The temp directly on the panel doesnt really matter becuase my snake doesnt stick to walls, its supposed to warm the air more than 6 degrees. I feel like i tried everything and nothing ends up working. What can i do? Whats wrong with my panels?

Get a temperature gun. Your thermometer is off - or not reading radient heat accurately.