First Snake!!!!!!

[brobertson]

First of all, hello to all of you on the forum. I just now registered, but you guys(and girls) have already helped me out so much. I have kept a few species of lizards with great success(see signature), and I have finally persuaded my Mom(Yes, I'm 14) to get my first snake, a ball python. I have set up a 10 gallon tank with cypress mulch bedding, a zoo med undertank heater hooked up to a zoo med 500r thermostat that covers roughly 1/3 of the bottom of the tank, a 50 watt exo terra infrared heat bulb on the same side as the pad, and a screen top that I will be stackng books on to prevent escape. My cage furniture is a small commercial hide on the hot side, a large water bowl in the middle, and a lightbulb box (small cardboard hide) from the bulb I bought on the cool side. I also have a few exo terra plants. 3 of the 4 sides are covered in dark paper.

here are all of my temps( in Fahrenheit):
Belly heat warm side: 85
Ambient warm side: 81
Belly heat cool side: 72
Ambient cool side: 71
Worried that it might be too cold.

I am planning on buying a baby male pastel from Garrick Demeyer on royal constrictor designs.com, is this good?

Planning on feeding rat pinkies or fuzzies to start(separate box or not separate box?)

All in all, how am I doing and what should I change?
Any tips?

(sorry for such a long post)

Benek