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[unluckyseventeen]

I am setting up a new tank for my boa, and it's been a bit of a pain getting the basking spots to an acceptable temperature.

I have my UTH on a dimmer, running at less than half capacity. The pad (30-40 gallon UTH) takes up about 75% of the floor space on the warm side. I have two hides set up over there, and one with a toilet paper/cardboard tube sticking out the side that is NOT on the UTH. I've probed all 3, and getting the air temperature and basking spots to an acceptable temperature has been a PAIN!!!

From what I've seen, an acceptable basking spot is no higher than 95, right? As well as the warm side needing to be 86-88. I've never really known what an acceptable basking spot temperature was, so I guessed it was somewhere between 90 and 95. My previous tank is currently at 86 air temperature, 93 for a basking spot.

Here's what I've got now (150 watt CHE and 30-40 gal UTH running at "low" on my dimmer).

Hide 1 has a max basking spot of 94.5 to 95, and sometimes it gets up to 96 or so, but I lower the dimmer if that happens.
Hide 2 has a max basking spot of about 90 (I have another box below it so it's a bit cooler inside).
Hide 3 (tube) is at about 87, but it's not sitting over the UTH.

By the way, hides 4, 5 and 6 are at 78, 76 and 74 respectively. My cool side temperature is at 74.5-75, which I know is too low.

However, my air temperature is only at 84.5 at the highest. I know I have to put the CHE and UTH on separate dimmers now because no matter what I do I can't get a good balance.

So, after all of this crap, I have two questions for all ya'll.

1 - What's an acceptable temperature for a basking spot, using a UTH?
2 - If you do use a UTH, do you have it running on extra low, or am I the only person with this problem? Seems kinda silly to buy such a huge mat then run it on extra, extra low. Of course I would buy a smaller mat, but then that'd be even worse because I'd run it on low and have less surface area.

Any input is appreciated.