Newbie here, worried about temperature

My wife and I have decided that we want to get a ball python and we are looking into cages options.

After reading reviews, I think we are going to go with an animal plastics cage.

However, my biggest concern is with temperature. We like to keep our house fairly cool (even in the winter). The cage would be going in our living room, and I would say the average temperature is around 66f (colder in winter).

With the animal plastics cage, could I install a RHP in it? Would I then still need the heat tape underneath? I'm assuming I would use the RHP to raise the ambient temperature, and then the heat tape to create a hot place in the tank.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated it. I want to ensure that I am doing everything correctly before dropping a lot of $$$

My house gets down to 45* and after placing the hide on top of the heat tape I am able to keep it around 90 hot side and with the heat light it just keeps the cool side at 82-86ish

The setup you're talking about is exactly what I have for one of my terrariums and it works great. I have an AP T12 with a RHP (60 watt) and heat tape underneath the hide. Even though the room I keep the terrarium in gets a little cold (about mid 60s) in the winter, the cool side of the AP stays in mid 70s. The RHP does a good job at keeping the ambient temps are.

If your house gets a lot colder, I'd suggest getting a long RHP so most of the cage gets heated. I know the RHPs are a little bit expensive but in my opinion they're definitely worth it.

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