Herp stat sounds great.
now,Satomi,I think for what you have the amount of snakes and reptiles the yeah a herp stat is great..but for a snake or a couple a hydrofarm is fine and it's what a lot of ppl use with no problems at all. If you hydrofarm conks out,how long will it be before u actually realize,your snake won't burn to death in that period of time. Atleast with me,I check my tank and the probes and temps every single day!!! ...my probe broke loose from the mat two days ago( was my fault) I woke up 8 hrs later to Kocur still in his hide and when I checked the UTH mat with an ir gun it was 127.. I immediately disconnected everything,took him out and he was perfectly fine,belly was fine etc...
I think people here go very very overboard about every single little detail..I know ppl with snakes that have just heat rocks for heat,ppl that have no t stats hooked u to there matts,ppl that have no UTHs to begin with and just a bulb and these snakes are healthy and perfectly fine.