Help me figure out what to do re: cage and setup.

I am feeling pretty dumb for being somewhat impulsive and getting my ball python this past Friday. I had a cage (reptile ranch), UTH, thermostat, probe thermometer, water dish, paper towels, a few hides, and I thought that would be good but ... I feel like I'm failing already.

Put Sven in his cage Friday night. He didn't want to use the hide (which takes up most of the heated area), and I was worried because my ambient temps weren't high enough (only about 70). So I ended up taking his hide out, moving him over the warm spot, and putting the hide on top of him. He came out (after staying in there tightly balled up, waiting for the all clear). This time his body weight moved the hide somewhat so he was partially over the warm spot and next to the wall so I let him stay there. I used a space heater to get the ambient temps in his cage at 78-82. (the space heater is directly under the shelf-like thing his cage is sitting on, so that helps and doesn't make the entire room skyrocket). Okay, but then with the space heater usage, my humidity was at 30%. Crap! So I go to the pet store and buy a different hide (that is bigger) so I can stuff wet moss in there. So of course I take him out AGAIN while rearrange the cage. I put him in his little deli cup thing and he eventually starts moving around, which I take as a sign of not being totally terrified.

Of course I don't know what the humidity is like inside his hide, where he currently is (I had to put the hide over him again, and he can choose a cooler side or warmer side in there). Temp on the cool end of this hide (near the floor) is 82-84, hottest part is 90-93. I can see (with a flashlight) that he is mostly over the cool side, snuggled up to the moss.

Then I put a very damp microfiber towel over the top of the cage and then put foil on top of that. Moved the thermometer/hygrometer in the cage and it's reading 44%. Better than 30% but not good enough. And I don't know what it's like IN the hide. And maybe the moss is drying up, but I don't want to disturb him at ALL except for changing water.

So ...

Should I do something different ASAP to get better humidity in there, then give him a full week of perfect conditions, and then try to feed? And if I do something ASAP, I'm thinking the quickest way would be to get a plastic tub?

I have 4 corns, and I went through some troubles with their setups but this is a bit more. And I knew it would be more, but now that I have him here, I don't want my stupidity to cause him to suffer.

Thanks for any help.

I have to defer to folks with more than a week of experience keeping ball pythons (eeek!), but I will say that my tub is good on maintaining humidity levels. I don't know if the ambient temperatures are an issue because I just ended up jacking up my entire house's heat for the comfort of our snakes.

Then again, I live in Florida. Thus ends my cheap winters spent at 68 degrees. Oh well. On the plus side, the husband and kids are rejoicing that I'm not endlessly saying "Just put on a coat!" in the comfort of their own family room :D

A tub would be easier to maintain his humidity. I'd go pick one up and get it right before moving him in there.

And don't let it drop to 70 again. Hell get a respiratory infection if his temps are under 75 or if his temps keep fluctuating.

So even if his cool side is 75 and he's in the warm hide where it's 90 on the floor (and he's directly on the plastic floor) ... he could get a RI?

The issue with getting the tub set up is that I just have the 1 UTH. I could put him in a small container and keep his temps above 80 while I do what I need to do?

Mist the enclosure to get it up in humidity. The towel basically only helps in RETAINING humidity. I have this exact same problem. Spray enclosure, cover top with wet towel. 65% humidity all day err day. And I have a heat lamp too. Substrate also plays a huge factor. But for a better solution get a small shoebox (plastic) fill it with water and put it on the hot side. The evaporating water will keep the humidity up too.