Good luck with your new snake!

Okay, you said you had a hide.. Your snake is going to need two identical hides on each side of the tank so it can choose between the warm side and cool side.

Go out to Home Depot and get 2 light dimmer switches they're between 8-14$ and hook it up to your Uth and your lamp. Then get a digital thermometer to read the temps at the bottom of the glass where the Uth is, the middle of your tank (ambient), and the cool side. You can get one thermometer with multiple probes or two whatever you prefer. Use the dimmer switches to get the proper temps: 88-92 at the Uth, and control the lamp so gets the ambient around 82-85 and this should create a good temp for the cool side. Make sure it doesn't get under 78 degrees or your snake could develop a respitory infection.

To keep in humidity, try buying moss from the pet store and roll them up in balls and put them in the tank. Put some moss inside the warm hide too (just a little bit) and mist the moss and the inside glass of the tank. Make sure you have your water bowl filled and put Saran Wrap on the top of the cool side half of your screen top. This should hold humidity a little, try to aim for 40-50%. Ball pythons are from the sub Saharan regions of Africa, and it is not a rain forest atmosphere and they don't need more humidity than that unless its in a shed.

As far as your question about using carpet and cypress, you'll only need one form of substrate once you've established proper temps. I found coconut husk (most pet stores carry it) to be a good substrate and it holds in humidity much better than cypres or anything else that I know of.

This all probably sounds overwhelming, but you'll get the hang of it in no time. Good luck and let us know how your snake is doing!