I had a day and a night bulb on top of my tank. In addition to the red lighting, the night bulb was also a lower strength bulb so it let the temperature drop a little over night.

I've now got 2 UTH(one is small) that I use hooked up to a thermostat(temperature is based off the larger one. Because the smaller one doesn't produce as much heat, it keeps that side cooler, but they both work to maintain a normal temperature.

It's pretty much eliminated the need for bulbs on top of the tank. Once that's done, you would only need lights to allow you to see your snake better, so you would just need general area lighting that wouldn't have to be on top.