What Size Tub? Also some tub questions...

Hello,
I'm still new to the world of ball pythons and I'm doing as much research as I can. I just have a few questions and I'd like some help if you don't mind. I'm getting a 4 month old male Pastel soon (:D) and I'd like to get his tub set up before I bring him home. He's about 12" and the weight was not verified as of yet by the seller. He's also eating f/t already. A picture of him is below:
http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/6995/pastelf.jpg

So, on to my questions:
1) What size tub would you recommend for him? - Dimensions would be preferred (LxWxH)
2) What size hides should I get for him? - I know they should be snug when he fits in them so I'll probably go by that.
3) I was planning on doing the melamine board "technique" for mounting the heat pad to as shown in this thread. Anyone know where I can get the stuff?
4) Is the Zilla brand thermostat for the heat pad temperature regulation reliable?

That's all for now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Ok, first off let me commend you on doing some research before you purchase! no on to your questions.

1. Tub size. I would go with a 15 quart tub, if its the snake in the picture. Not sure of the sizes off the top of my head.
2. You all ready have that one answered.
3. You can get the melamine at Home Depot or Lowes.
4. Not real familiar with Zilla thermostat. Johnsons and Ranco's are a decent mid priced thermostat and Hydrofarm has a lower end thermostat that a lot of people on here use as well as myself. Thought I would try it out and so far so good. Can find it on ebay or Amazon.

hope any of this helps,

Dave

I use 6qt tubs for hatchlings, and these are very temporary, I move them to 15qt. tubs till they are sub adults. For those tubs I use sterilite brand tubs and melt ventalation holes with a soldering iron, and use the lids on the tubs so the melimine wont get mildew on it making my shelving units last longer. I use flexiwatt heat tape and I prefer to use Helix thermostats. They are more expensive but they are pulse pulportional so they don't turn on and off all the time. After that I move them into CB 70 breeder tubs. Or into melamine built cages with sliding glass fronts and plexi glass lined bottoms (again to get more life out of the melimine) I use radiant heat panels (which you can get from Helix) and all my cages/tubs are on a Helix thermostat. Hope this helps:snake:

Another question: What are some recommended heat pads for tubs? Would the zoo-med ones work or are those low quality?

Also, never mind, that's not the snake I'm getting. I'll be buying a snake at the white plains show in april. It will be around the same size though. I really like bumblebees! Thanks for the help so far. More opinions would be suggestions appreciated.