The part about heat matts being no good on the side is not exactly correct and its not a hard a problem to solve. You build 3 walls like as if it was on the table and the problems solved. Takes 5 mins to do, and by doing it this way you are also covering the 3 sides so he cant see out. And I will be honest my frogs never stay right against the glass, they are actually more on the cooler end of the tank during the day which sits at 79F and the warm end is 82f. If and when they burrow on the warm side its never right against were the matt is either and they are only there a few days before moving back to the other side. Both my tanks are kept the same and my frogs are nice and healthy eat and poop on regular basis.