Hello~
I use a thermostat, and have a probe on my uth, and use a temp gun. I only have 1 snake and am currently housing her in a 20 gal (until she gets big enough, then upgrading to a t8! woo~). In my honest opinion, you can never be too careful. The thermostat could malfunction, or the probe could not be completely accurate or might move from the hot spot. Although these are unlikely, its just good to be safe than sorry.
Your hot glue gun idea sounds like great, but do you have plans on what to do to clean? Would you just leave it in there and clean out your tank, or would you take it out and hot glue it back? I currently just have mine sitting where my bp is usually laying so I can tell if she gets too hot or not.
I also have a small kitchen scale. It really is just nice to have, and to be able to document how big she grows and such. It also comes in handy when trying to figure out what size rat she needs. Most of the people on this forum have enough experience to just look at the snake and determine what size its prey item should be, but I'm still learning.
I live in Northern California where it is much cooler than SoCal, and I don't use a heat lamp unless it's winter and my ambient temps is below 75. I have the top 3/4 of my screen top covered with foil (I used this tutorial http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...tment-Tutorial) and my humidity never drops below 60%. Its pretty consistent with being at 72. I use coconut husk substrate and have a large water bowl. I've heard of some people getting mites from cypress mulch, but not everyone gets mites from that and I think you can buy the organic one from Home Depot. That would be much cheaper than buying coconut husk substrate.
I hope this helps! Good luck
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