Hi,
I've never owned a snake before, but I recently just purchased a Ball Python, he's still a baby but I just had a few questions that I was confused about. I'm sure these questions could be answered somewhere in here in one of these threads but I wasn't able to find it.

First off, I've been trying to get the warm side of his tank to around the high 80s or so, I'm using a digital thermometer so I'm sure it's reading accurately but the warm side is only around 80-81. Is there an easy fix to this? I have a heat pad on the bottom of the tank as well.

Lately he has seemed very aggressive, at first I was able to take him out of the tank easily, he didn't mind and when he came out, he would crawl up onto my arm and just relax. Now, whenever I go to handle him he just seems irritated and slithers away and doesn't like to be held. Is there something I'm doing wrong or should be doing when handling to make him more comfortable?

And I wasn't too sure on how long to leave the lights in the tank on. My friend owns a Ball Python as well and at times she'll turn them off or on. The lights in my tank have been on 24/7 because if I turn them off, the thermometer drops to about 75 quickly and I don't want to make him sick or unhealthy from lack of heat. What do I do?

I've been keeping the humidity around a reasonable 50% mostly and trying to make sure it doesn't go under that range. I have only been using a squirt bottle, called "Zilla - Humidifying Spray, Tropical Mist." - "Helps prevent dry skin and shedding problems, Fortified with rich emollients and Aloe Vera". The store I had bought him from told me I should use this to keep the tank humidified, but if there is a more effective or better way to do that, that would be nice.

I set-up his tank with a hide on each side and a water bowl in the middle, but I'm thinking I should buy a larger water bowl since this one seems a little to small.

If anyone can help me with any of these problems, I would appreciate it.

-Thank you
Imabur.