Just can’t get heating right.

[nichole]

Relatively new snake owner here.
I did so much research before I got my snake and most people said that I would not need a heat lamp and an under the tank heater would be fine

I’m currently using a 36x18x18, 50 gallon terrarium, I have a large heat pad on about a 1/3 of the bottom set to 90 degrees. I have a thin layer of aspen and I have added branches hides and reptile safe leaves to give him plenty of places to hide since the enclosure is pretty big especially for him.

I used a temp gun and found the hottest and the coldest parts of the terrarium and placed a temp probe on top of that substrate. My cool side is 69-72, but my hot side I can’t seem to get warm enough.

My house is a little chilly. I have a zoo med mini dual dome lamp combo , 100 watt each side, on a lamp stand 1/2 in above tank. 68 during the day and 65 at night. I started with a 60 watt exo terra daytime bulb and a 50 watt night time blue bulb. Wasn’t getting hot enough. So I went up to the exo terra 100w daytime bulb, couple degrees but not enough. Since I’m limited to the 100w I bought exo terra 100w light basking spot since it’s supposed to be be 75% more intense. But the highest I’m reading is with temp gun is 84.

I’m debating on exchanging the mini combo lamp so I can get more wattage. I just don’t understand why I’m having so much trouble getting the right temps. Especially when most people said I wouldn’t even need a heat lamp.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!