Ah. I haven't been in a pet store much recently. Didn't realize those were a thing.

I was thinking of using both a UTH and an RHP (Radiant Heat Panel, the heat source that goes on the inside of the ceiling of the enclosure). UTH for the hot spot/side, RHP for ambient temp control. Is that overkill? I live in the Washington DC area so it can certainly get cold here in winters.

If I use an RHP is it ok to put a log in? I just don't know what the typical temperature gradient is in a T8 between the top and bottom of the box and if the snake could burn itself on the RHP I'd like to know how much clearance I should leave. Or is the snake just smart enough to self regulate that sort of thing?

For hides, does it make much difference if the entrance is on top of the hide vs the side? The book I was reading said BPs might prefer top entrance hides, but I don't know if I've seen any of that variety in the posts on this forum. Not that I've looked extensively.

In your signature what's with the 1.0, 3.0, 0.1 in front of describing your snakes (at least I presume they're your snakes)? I would sort of understand a count of a whole number of snakes being 1 or 3, but the 0.1 confuses me.