Space heater on thermostat or CHE lamp for ambient temperatures?

[cuteaspied]

Don't mind at all, we're here to help! It depends really, you have to play around with it to get exactly what you're looking for. MOST of my enclosures that still have a CHE on them have the probe about 6 inches below the CHE, typically stuck to the wall of the enclosure. For my BP, and this was what I did so again you'll have to play around with it to see what works for you, I had a 18 inch high enclosure, with the probe set about a foot above the floor. I set it, if I remember correctly to about 88 which kept the floor right at 85, and the hottest spot below the CHE, a log that my BP would climb on, never got above 88-89. Then of course the warm hide had a UTH under it for a hot spot, so I had two spots sitting right around 88-90 degrees he could get to if he wanted some options.

Again this is just what worked for my situation. I keep saying that because there isn't a one-size fits all explanation for how to set your enclosure up, just some set standards, but the rest is just finding what works best for you and your animal. I recommend setting your enclosure up, and letting it run for a week or so just to play around with probe placement and your thermostat settings until you're comfortable with that you're seeing, and then introduce your snake to its new home.

I appreciate the help! I got my CHE set up today and as you suggested I'm gonna test run it for about a week before I put him in it to make sure everything's stable, but I've come across a small problem.

I have the CHE on a thermostat set to 89, and the probe is hanging about an inch above the hot hide. The floor under the hot hide is reading 84 and the cool side is about 80, but I'm concerned that the top surface of the plastic hide is a bit warmer at about 95-97 F since it's sitting directly under the heat lamp. All temps are read with a temp gun.
Is this going to be a problem? He likes to climb on stuff and explore at night but I doubt he'll just sit on it for long periods of time so if the top of the plastic items are reading a bit warmer than the rest of the tub, is that normal and safe? My tub is about the size of a ten gallon tank so it's quite small. I'm currently not using a UTH with the CHE cause I'd like to save the money if I can help it but I will get one if he ends up needing it.
Thanks again