Hello all. This is John, Marcia's husband. I helped set up her habitat per her requests of what she wanted. Everyone here seems to have their own answers on how to regulate temps and how to read them. Your knowledge has been gained by your experiences and research and are not to be discounted. I know nothing of lizards....lol. I do however, have a Masters in Aerospace Engineering and set this up with thermal dynamics, IR gun efficacy and emissivity in mind. Yes, the Herpstat is set to 114.2 However, it measures the temperature only a few inches under the basking light (I have the probe hanging on a chain just a few inches under the basking light). We don't care what that probe reads. It is only a means to get the basking area to the desired temperature required. Obviously, the temperature of the surface much farther from the light is cooler, or in this case, exactly what we want them to be and more importantly....where the Dragons seem to like. As for IR guns....Even cheap ones are fairly accurate. The problem is emissivity. Different surfaces reflect differently according to their properties. There are many Emissivity charts online for this very issue. Slate has excellent emissivity and therefore the IR guns are very accurate. Wood does not.....so less accurate and so on. Using the chart one can account for and correct the reading. IR guns, like every other tool, have expensive ones and cheap ones. I went for one in the middle that has proven excellence. There are ways to calibrate IR guns and these methods may also be found online or in the manual. I hope this note gives everyone a picture of Marcia's set up in their minds and clears the confusion. You all were correct in one way from a certain point of view. That view however, didn't fit her setup. Thanks for "listening" and take care!
John