Set-Up Okay or Needs Modified?

[AnnaK231]

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

Do you mean if you run the bulbs in a shared dome the bulbs burn out faster or the unit itself gets ruined?

Yeah, I was just on the border between buying a dual dome and using one side for an extra UVB bulb I have from when I upgraded my beardie to a T5 Hood, and the other for infrared. But since there are 2 windows in the room and my beardie with his light, I guess I'll go for the cheaper option and just get one dome. I just didn't know how beneficial the direct UVB was, or if it was even noticeable than that compared of them just getting light from windows or other fixtures. Thanks for the help guys, it is much appreciated! I'm hoping by the time I get everything together and set up, that the weather around me will warm up into the 50-60's for a day or two so I can order my new addition to the family haha

Also, does anyone have any recommendations on some hides and water bowls? I looked around my local stores for hides and they are either way too overpriced, too small, or look horrid. I'm guessing the best bet is to just buy some of those black hide boxes from reptilebasics. Also, on the water bowl. I don't know if it was this site or another I found on google while learning about BPs, but I read that the plastic ones are better because they are non-porous as opposed to the ceramic ones and they don't trap bacteria. I mean I use plastic furniture in my beardie's tank and it can be a pain to clean sometimes, as apposed to ceramic or stoneware I'd assume. So just wondering. And the size needs to be big enough so they can fit in it mostly at least correct?

I have two (make sure you have two hides too) cave like hides from exo terra that are extra large and fit our snake snugly. He's about 30 inches long I believe. I ordered them online from amazon because our local stores just had little ones. You want the hides to "fit the snake" so they feel secure. The black boxes look nice and seem to work for a lot of people so I think those would be fine to get. It's up to you what size you want to get, you just may have to use something else in the meantime if you go too big, or may have to upgrade if you go too small.
We made a swimming pool in our BP's 55 gallon and it was a pain to clean so for now we are using plastic dishes. He's got two for now (little ones) but since he likes to soak I'll probably upgrade to a ceramic bowl. If the humidity is high enough and stable you shouldn't need a really big bowl, from what I've read that's really all it's used for.
I didn't see in your above post, what do you have to read temps/humidity in the tank?