Hello, im new to these forums. I am a saltwater person myself, I have 3 saltwater tanks and enjoy nature as well as doing stuff myself and researching. Sadly my brother passed away last week and I wound up with his bumblebee ball python. I believe its about 2 years old, its 40in long and about 1in in girth, maybe slightly bigger. He has the tank setup (55gal tall aquarium, 2 1/2ft long by 18in wide and 2ft tall) with a heat pad underneath the tank and a heatlamp from above, both heat sources on the same side, 2 hides, a water bowl that's about 4in x 6in oval and about an inch of cypress mulch. the temp stays at around 80 degrees and humidity at 40 (which I see I need to fix, but need to know what to do to fix this). What can I do to make this enclosure better? is there a better substrate I can use?

Here in the coming months I want to build a larger enclosure as I see recommended tanks shouldn't be aquariums, should not have open tops and should at least be 2/3 as long as the snake, which means im right about at that limit.

My ideal tank would be a 4ft long by 18in wide tank and maybe 20-24in high. I would like to also make this a planted tank, not too heavy though, just a few live plants to give everything the correct feel and a very professional look while providing an excellent habitat for my cool lil reptile dude. I also feel caring for the plants will help me keep the humidity in the proper range. Being a saltwater guy Ive gotten the knack of coming up with creative ways to keep everything simple and easy and live by the phrase "if its easy you are more likely to do it" and with that I need to figure out a good substrate. There is a reason why my saltwater tanks do not have sand in them, I don't want to clean them. I know this is a totally different situation here, but is there a more feasible and cost reductive strategy for a substrate then just to pitch the old and bring in the new?

What I am thinking about doing is lining the outside perimeter with some live plants. the full backside and 1/2 of the sides, so half of the whole perimeter will have plantlife thus refered to the grow zone from here. is it feasible to have the entire substrate soil? I was thinking either all soil or I would line the 'grow zone' and have a 4in partition separating soil from the proper substrate. the grow zone will have a automatic waterer plumbed in. for heating ill have ceramic heaters, 1 or 2 whatever I may need controlled with a heater controller, and for humidity an auto mister. heat from the lighting for the plants wont be a big deal as im very experienced with led lighting and plan on building a led fixture to focus on the plants, this lighting system will run off my aquarium controller and will include white, red and blue sections of the color spectrum, it will also coincide with the light cycle in figi as well as moonlights that correspond with the moon phase. The water bowl will also be plumbed in, since I don't like the idea of a automatic mister (then id have to clean the glass a lot -.-) im going to create a small water fall, more like a stream somewhere in the tank (the mister will be added if humidity doesn't stay where it needs to). then have 3 hides, a hot, cold and a wet (don't know how to make a wet hide yet but ill look it up one day). I would also like a branch or two or something for the snake to climb on for his amusement as I understand pythons are not the climbing type.

It should be understood im not looking to have a tank full of plants. Id like to keep it rather open and neat, the plants are moreso there as a background and to add a little zing.

How does this all sound? and first things first, what can I do to help raise the humidity for my not so lil pal?

Thanks for any help or advice! Im looking forward to this as its a different beast then my glass box pieces of the ocean.