Reptilebasics heat tape issues

[Mojo9120]

Hey guys, so I set up two 3'Lx2'Wx1'H pvc cages made by reptile basics. So I purchased the under tank heat tape that they offer with the cages. I thought that it would actually heat the whole cage, rather than just where that tape touches.

So I set the the thermostat probe just floating in the cage so that I could get the ambient air temp up, I turned everything on and came back a couple hours later and the air temp was at 72°(thought that was odd) I touched where the pad sits and it was extremely hot, I put the probe there and it climbed to 163° (would burn the heck out of my hognoes) so now I have the probe sitting where its supposed to on the mat, and the air is back to 65°-70°(not warm enough)

My question is how can I hear the air in the cage without dropping another $200 on two RHP, and without drilling into the new cages

[EL Ziggy]

@ Mojo- You can try a couple of things. For starters I would switch out the UTH you're using to an Ultratherm. These barely go over 100F even in the event of a t-stat failure. If you want to raise the ambient temps without using a RHP you could invest in a radiator heater and just heat the room. I ordered the 8in screen cutouts with my enclosures so I use IR heat bulbs to boost my ambient temps.

Ultratherm Heat Pads (http://www.reptilebasics.com/ultratherm-heat-pads)

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_12?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=radiator+heater&sprefix=radiator+hea%2Caps%2C130&crid=18CK348QCKJ3H