I too run my wires in parallel. tends to get more even heat imo. all that means is instead of running a plug off of each strip, you wire each strip of flexwatt to the next and put the plug on the last line. As for where in the house to keep your snakes you better take your womans feelings into consideration otherwise you maybe selling snakes before you ever have your first clutch. lol there's several things that you can do to warm up the basement. first one that comes to my mind is wall off part of it and insulate it and use a space heater to warm it up. Now if money is a concern that can be a selling point to the little woman as to why they should be upstairs with the beardies.