I measure my surface temps with a temp gun. You point it at a surface, press the button, and it tells you how hot that surface is. The readings are more accurate than using probe thermos for surface temps. They're designed for measuring the temperature of the air, so those readings would be a little different. I usually use them to measure my ambient temps (which are about 78-85 on the hot side, and 50-60 on the cool side (for my big girls in the basement...the cool sides are warmer for my other enclosures that are on the first and second floors of the house).

As an experiment, since I have the day off tomorrow, I'll toss the probes from some digital thermos under the basking lights, and then we can more accurately compare temps. Mine are probably still going to look comparatively high though, I don't doubt that. Keep in mind, these are the hottest basking spots. They don't spend all of their basking time under those points of their basking spots. I find they move closer or further from the basking spot depending on their temperature needs. Most of the time they like to bask around the basking, and not directly in the center, but once they have a lot of greens in them, they'll plop down right underneath the lamp to digest. I notice this with all of my torts. I have offered them multiple basking spots of different temperatures, but for some reason they were always attracted to the hottest ones, even when they opted to bask slightly outside of the light (at a lower temp).

Odd little dudes. tomorrow I'll have some more numbers for use to compare.

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