I'm curious due to the fact that I don't see a rheostat or digital thermometer...how is it you know that your UTH stays at the temps you said? Most run much hotter and need to be controlled manually with the rheostat. Being that I don't see a digital thermometer, I'm assuming that you're assuming that the temps are staying at the same temp constantly is that correct?

As for the plants, I wouldn't have moved him over until you had them. With all that open space, your snake may get stressed out a bit. I know this because I had that issue with having too much space. Bigger isn't necessarily better when it comes to BP tanks.