Welcome, Atomic.
I'm actually rocking 2 Zoomed UTH, I forget the size but I think I paid about $20 for one. I have one on the hot side and another on the cold. The cold side one has never been plugged in.. I have the hot side hide sitting directly over the center of the UTH (Through the glass of course..). Ulfric always pushes the substrate out anyways from his hides, so I usually do that for him and dial in the glass temp to 89 per my laser-momiter (Get one of these, best way to get an accurate temp). I'm also using 2 Zoomed thermometers, if you're going with Herpostate you are well set there.
As for lights I have a day and night in a shared ballast (don't run them both in a shared, the heat kills them faster) at 60w's. As Sauzo said, more is better when you need it. My house stays pretty warm in the winter but they struggled a few times this season to keep it at 80 ambient.
Check out my tank. The cardboard wrapped with foil and taped to the outside makes the heat stay in much better. I also have a loose sheet that stays on top and I open it more/close it depending on what my humidity demands are.
I applaud you for setting up your tank BEFORE you got the snake. So many people bring a snake home and it's life is miserable for the first few weeks because something is messed up in their husbandry. I waited roughly 12 years to get my ball, my tank was dialed weeks before Ulfric showed up on my doorstep
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