Hi my name is Repzard, I'm new to snakes. I currently own an emperor scorpion and a leopard gecko, but I wanted to get into snakes, and so, the ball python will be my first snake. I've done much research on its care and stuff, but I have a few questions about setting up.

First off, I want to know about the heat source. I bought this Exo Terra 16W Heat Wave Desert Heat Mat on eBay and it will be coming in soon, and was wondering if it would be an adequate heat source for a ball python for all its life. If anybody has this heat mat model, could you tell me if it works good, and what is the surface temperature?

Also, should I stick the heat mat on the INSIDE bottom of the tank, or the OUTSIDE bottom of the tank?

Last but not least, could I use plastic plants in the vivarium? Here are a whole bunch of plastic plants I'm interested in (and I've already selected a few I might buy): http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products...est_plants.php

What do you think of those plants?