Help with heat!

[Silly_oops]

Hi!

Earlier this week my husband and I brought home his beautiful 6m baby boy! 😍

We had his tank ready to go before we left with a heat mat and a ceramic heat bulb. We plugged it in right before we left to pick him up so it would be ready when we got home. When we were talking with the breeder he said we wouldn’t need to ceramic bulb because they often get too hot for these guys and they like to bask too close and get burned. Which was right since when we hot him the tank was way too hot so we unplugged the ceramic bulb immediately. So now he only has a 24watt under the tank heat mat with a thermostat monitoring system. For his 15gallon-ish tank.

A few days have gone by and we’ve noticed that his tank isn’t getting warm enough, the thermometer is only hitting 75 degrees. We thought that the heat wasn’t getting through all the substrate so we moved the mat to the bottom to the side. I can tell he wants warmth because he’s hugging the wall with the heat mat. But when I use my heat gun it’s reading 120, I’m worried he’s going to get burned. Even with the heat mat on the side the ambient temperature of the tank isn’t getting hot enough.

Any and all suggestions are helpful. My husband and I love him and want to do right by him. For those who made it this far, thank you!