Adopted a new BP in Jan

[pfriday]

Long story short, a friend of a friend was moving and couldn't take his BP with him so I offered to take her. She is 5 years old and came in a 40 gal tank with one hide, a water dish and one heat lamp.... That changed quickly, and she now has two hides, two UTH with a VE 200, one CHE on a rheostat a lexan top two thermometers etc... She hasn't missed a meal, is fairly active and seams to like watching me when I work (I work from home and she is in the office).

I know, a lot of people don't like tanks, but that's how I got her, and to be honest she lays with her head out of the hide watching me most of the day, so I don't think she minds.



I've been able to keep temps and humidity stable
Hot side 90-92 surface 85-86 ambient
Cold side 80-82 surface 76-78 ambient
Humidity 50-55%

I have had snakes before, but it was a long time ago and I do have a few questions.

Temp: Is surface or ambient temp more important?
Feeding: I was told she ate full sized F/T rats, but medium seam easier for her. If I feed every ~2 weeks is a med rat enough?
Substrate: She's been on a towel all her life, and I kind of like it. Was thinking about Reptcarpet, but there seams to be some people that don't like it. I don't really like the idea of lose substrate, not sure why but I'd rather something that won't get stuck on the food etc. For one BP is there a reason to not use Reptcarpet?

Thanks for all opinions. The family is loving her, and I'm already thinking about more