First off, welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of snake keeping.
Since you got the ZooMed kit, I'm assuming your relying on those dial style analog thermometers/hygrometers?
If so, they're wildly inaccurate up to 15% or 15°. Unfortunately, most of what comes with that kit is crap. They honestly should just take them off the market.
I'm assuming (forgive me if I'm wrong) that you're not measuring the actual surface temp. You'll need to get a temp gun and measure the actual glass surface. Snakes can and will burrow and push substrate around, so they're in direct contact with the surface. So that's hot spot temp you need. You'll likely need to set your tstat between 92-94 to get the surface to be 88-89. So start low and work your way up till you hit 88-89 on the surface.
It's important to understand that your heat mat is there solely to provide a hot spot to aid in digestion and allow the snake to thermoregulate.
You'll also need a thermostat for your heat lamp. That is how you control your cook side and ambient temps. If yours is running wide open right now you run the risk of heat spikes that can cause neurological damage or even be fatal for your snake.
If you're not reaching the temps you're looking for you'll need a higher wattage bulb.
It's important to start with your temps, then get humidity dialed in. There are plenty of tricks to boost humidity, and you already made a nice move switching substrates. Aspen sucks for humidity control.
Get your temps situated and check on humidity from there. Once temps are dialed in we can help you with humidity.
Lastly, I just want to stress the importance of getting your enclosure set up and equipment running and dialed in BEFORE bringing an animal home. This will save a LOT of stress on the keeper and more importantly the animal.
But oh well, we live and learn. You'll be more prepared for your next snake, hehehehe.
Snakes and tattoos, I know very few people with just one!
Good luck. Ask all the questions you may have, we're happy to help.
Oh, I just looked at the pics and it hit me....
Where is your thermostat probe located?
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