With the heating pad, please use a thermostat. And use a thermometer with a probe or temperature gun to measure the temperature of the bottom surface of the enclosure, BELOW the substrate. The ambient temperature may not increase as much, but put a hide over the heat pad and the air inside there will definitely heat up and stay warm. Ensure your substrate layer isnt too thick, mines at most half an inch. In the warm hide theres almost nothing. If you do want to increase ambient temperature, CHE's are an option but they are annoyingly disastrous for humidity, so do take note of that. You do need a hygrometer to measure humidity too.

Oh yes, welcome to the forum(: and congrats on your new pet.