Best Substrate?

So all be getting a Ball Python soon within a couple of days and I'm setting up their home in advance as recommended. So I'm using a 32 quart Sterilite Tub and a Flexxwatt Heat Pad that covers 40% of the tub. So I understand Ball Pythons Humidity needs to be between 50% to 60%. Also the cool side being between 80F to 85F and the hot between 90F to 95F. But I'm unsure of what substrate to use? Over time I bought 2 types: Aspen and Coco Husk. I was also going to try and get a hold of some unprinted newspaper. So I was originally recommended Coco Husk so I put it in the tub, I had air holes and the water dish on the cool side but my humidity went to 80% and both temperatures went to around 77F. So I pulled that out for fun I tried printed newspaper, made more holes and my newspaper got soaked. So I made more holes and put Aspen in and my Hot fluctuates between 88F to 92F which I believe is good but my cold sits at 72F to 74F. Will heating be any better with unprinted newspaper? Will lets say 73F kill the snake? Should I buy another heat pad to boost the cold temps to the 80's? I will be feeding it in a separate tub so It wont possible ingest the Aspen. Right now there's Aspen in their and my Humidity reads 70%. It's a Gauge type so it might be off a little? Don't know need Help Fast?

You have a tstat, right?

Printed or unprinted should not change things. What is the temp in the room?

You want the cool side to stay above 78. The whole tub can be 80 with a hot spot of 90. Meaning the ambient temp can be 80 and one surface spot at 90.

And feeding in the tub with aspen is fine. Just don't put a soaking wet feeder in it.

I used aspen for several years, it works well. Now I mostly use printed newspaper because its easy and free. Printed or nonprinted should not affect the temps. What is the ambient room temperature? Will it warm up naturally in spring and summer?

I have tried a number of types over the years aspen, cyprus, coco coir, and newspaper. I prefer coco coir or sani chip aspen. Sani chips look like they came from a chainsaw. There is a massive price difference the sani chips being about 8x more than the coco coir.

I agree with KMG it sounds like you are not using a thermostat (a tool that regulates temp unlike a thermometer that reads the temp.) They often will eliminate variation or at least keep it to a small amount.

Heating is more complex than many think. Most types of heaters used with reptiles are Radiant heaters (the stick on heat pads/flexwatt •uth• or heat panels that sit on the ceiling •RHP•) One of the characteristics of radiant heat is it does not directly heat air. This makes air temp control complex. Simply add a second UTH may not have a huge impact on the air temps. The easiest solution is to increase the air temp in the room where the snake is located.

The thickness of the substrate over the heated area should not be overly thick usually about 1/8 of an inch it moves around a lot so I simply place a bunch in all 4 corners and some inside the cool hide and a and some OUTSIDE the warm hide. The snake will move some into the warm hide on its own.

If you do not own a T-stat you should purchase one BEFORE you get the snake. Snakes because they are exothermic rely of external heat. This is why correct temps are critical. External temps have a direct impact on the health and well being of your snake. Buy a good thermostat my suggestion is a herpstat you will never need another, they are cheaper in the long run as you will not feel the need to replace it later.
(http://www.spyderrobotics.com)

I have a thermostat with the probe on the hot side. My room temperature in the winter is 65F and in the summer it's around 70F so.

You are not going to be able to get the air temp right in a room that cold with just flexwatt. My house stays around 68. Because of that I had to start heating a room to keep snakes in tubs. I Do have a display tank in my living room but I have to use three heat sources to keep the temps right. It's a glass tank.

One member was having similar trouble and put the snake in a closet that they then put a regulated heater in.

65º is quite hard to hold ambient temps. I run a room that is around this point. What type of enclosure do you have?

It's just a 32 quart tub.

I also have a snake in a 32 quart tub. I'm using Reptibark mostly because I prefer the look of it over newspaper or aspen and have just made enough holes to deal with the high humidity it brings. I've got 50+ holes in my tub, but humidity's usually anywhere between 45 and 55 and when Aradia's in shed I just spray down her substrate a couple of times a day and she's set. I do have to run a space heater pretty much whenever I can, though. It gets cold here in winter and the house temps do drop when nobody's home because the heat is set lower. If I had the space, and with the problems I'm having with my ambients, I would switch her to a tub or an AP T8 or something similar.

So I gotta hold of some Unprinted Newspaper yesterday and thinking about using that. Also do you put the probes overtop the paper or can they go underneath?