NEED HELP SETTING UP JOHNSON THERM WITH MY HEAT TAPE!|

So I have a back heated rack with 11 inch heat tape and I'm a little confused as to how some people set up their thermostat with the heat tape. The johnson thermostat is not a proportional model, just an on/off thermostat and I know what most people do is put the probe directly on the heat tape to regulate the temperature in the back of their tubs. My problem is that 1) I don't have belly heat, so my overall heat tape temperature will be much higher than that of belly heat because the heat has to travel more distance to penetrate the tub and heat the back portion and 2) if i put my probe right on the heat tape then the thermostat will be constantly turning the tape on and off because it isn't proportional so it can't regulate the amount of power to the tape, just once it reaches a certain point, shuts off...I hope that makes sense in explaining it.....Right now I have one tub that isn't in use because of this problem. I simply have the thermostat probe on the tub floor about 2 inches from the back to give me the desired hot spot for my reptiles. It works well, but that tub will never be in use because of that...I hope that wasn't confusing, I was just wondering if it can be done another way without a proportional thermostat.

hmmmmmmm I only use belly heat or heat panels but this came to mind and if I were in your situation I would try to go about it like this. Lets say you have 5 tubs going from top to bottom. I would go to the middle tub (tub 3) then drill a small hole in it towards the back half closet to the tape. Then I would leave enough slack on the probe to where you can pull the tub out to get the snake and clean and all that good stuff. There may be a better answer out there but thats what I would attempt. Hope it helps!