Hi everyone,

I am going to buy my first ball python (for my son) today, and I have been trying to set up his terrarium for the last few days and get all the temps right, but I'm having a little trouble getting it perfect. Here are the details:

The tank is a glass exo terra terrarium 36x18x12 so roughly 33 gallons from what I can tell. The substrate is "Forest Floor" and I have about 1 inch think of it down. I have the two hide boxes and a bunch of decorations. For heating I initially just had a UTH rated for 30-40 gallon tanks, but that wasn't bringing it too temp even with it set at it's max temp via the thermostat I have (108), so yesterday I purchased a heat lamp "reflector dome" with a red heat bulb 50w. With that on top on the hot side of the tank the temps are reading about 88 hot side and 74 on the cold side.

From what I have read that's a little under what it should be. So now my question is, should I return the lamp to maybe buy a bigger one with a 100w bulb or is there another solution to this issue? Any help would be appreciated, as I said I'm new to all this, but I have done tons of research over the last month.

I can post a picture if one is needed. I am reading the temps from a "zoo med" dual thermometer and hydrometer, one on each side. I know these can be highly unreliable, so now I'm wondering if maybe the reading is wrong, but I can feel that the cool side substrate does feel pretty cool to the touch. They are stickied to the back wall about 6 inches above the bottom of the tank. I wanted to maybe buy a better thermometer, but I am having issues finding anything better at local stores. Oh, and the temp in the house is usually around 74-80 where the tank is.

Please let me know if any additional info is needed and thanks again for any help.