Need help with heating

i recently got a ball python. It came in a big glass tank with sliding top screen. I have a damp towel to help keep humidity in and that fine. The snakes move The problem is that it has a wooden base about 3 inches thick and i was reading the you shouldn't use a uth with a wooden bottom. I have a red bulb in it have it on all day because i don't know what to use the. The thermometer i was using just broke so i can tell the temps in the tank for now till i go and buy another. Does anyone have any suggestions i don't want to buy a new tank.

save up and buy a new tank...you will need a UTH (under tank heater) with a THERMOSTAT to correctly regulate the UTH...BPs do better with belly heat...also make sure you get a new thermometer soon...those red bulbs can get a lot hotter than people realize...your hotter side for the bp should be 88-90...and remember it helps with humidity if you tin foil the mesh outside top of the tank...

Forget the tank. Buy a tub from Walmart and set that up.

I originally got tanks thinking they would look nicer. Then I realized what kind of snakes I have. Yeah. It sure looks nice when three (and a half) sides of the glass are covered with construction paper and most of the top is covered in foil. Never mind the CRAZY weight of moving a decent sized glass tank around, and the fact that these are ball pythons and they aren't exactly hanging out where they can be seen, anyway.

Really - rubbermaid tub, get some air holes in it, set up as you would a tank (no light, UTH with a thermostat) and call it good. Your back will thank you (and your sense of aesthetics, for that matter).

I'll eventually get a garter or something for one of the tanks, but on a BP it's not just a waste, it's an ugly, backbreaking, pain in the neck.