Hello everyone! I have 3 BPs and I understand heating requirements as far as there needs to be a cool side of around 78-82 and the hot side of around 88-92. I've generally seen that an ambient air temperature can be around 75-80, though I've heard different opinions on that point...

So when I first got my 2 BPs, I used 2 heat lamps, one a 60W and one a 75W for hot and cool sides. However, I didn't take the size of the tank (20g long) into consideration. If I left both lamps on for any amount of time without also kicking on the AC in my room, the ambient temps shot up to 100. Horrid and unhealthy!! Keeping the AC on keeps things nice and stable with proper cool and hot ends, but it's not practical to adjust the AC of my whole house for my snakes. So I asked around and was told that 2 lamps is ALWAYS overkill for a 20g since it's small. (My 2 snakes are still babies, but will be getting 40g breeders when they're bigger!!) I was also told that a thermostat will go a long way.

20 gallon set ups: So this morning I finally got my thermostats in the mail and I now have my 20g tanks set up like this: A single 75W bulb for the hot end with the thermostat set to 90. I literally just set these up so I'm waiting to see how temperatures even out across the tank. I'm hoping that there will be enough residual heat radiating to the other side to keep the cool side in the 78-82 range. If there is NOT enough heat on the cool side, I'm thinking this: Keep the 75W bulb, but unplug the thermostat from it (I've never had an issue with a single bulb overheating). Then I'll slap a UTH mat on the cool side and set it to 82 with the thermostat. Thoughts?

55 gallon set up: Now, for my most recently acquired BP.... she is an adult and she is CHONK. So I have her in a 55g tank, just acquired her. She came with a couple of UTH mats placed under her bigger hide (the other hide is woefully small and she can't fit her fat body in it- replacing that this evening). I literally just got her from a woman getting rid of her, so today I will be heading to the pet store for thermometers and humidity gauges to get an accurate reading. So since she's in a much bigger tank, I'm thinking it will be safe to use 2 bulbs... 50W for the cool side and 75W for the hot side, attaching a thermostat set to 90 to the 75W bulb. In this set up, I would be getting rid of the UTH. Thoughts?

**I don't like using UTH in place of bulbs because my humidity tends to get too high without bulbs-- around 70%. 50% is healthier from what I understand, which I achieve with bulbs.

I'm learning more and more about my lovelies every day and I appreciate any and all guidance.