Hello, first post here. My daughter got her first snake, a ball python, about 2 weeks ago (the first snake for our family). Our house stays on the cool side (usually 66-69 degrees). He is currently in a 20L glass enclosure. We now have plans to use a tub or PVC enclosure in the future but for now we are trying to make sure his set up is ideal as possible. We have managed to get his temps and humidity dialed in with a foil/cardboard cover system and using an UTH on his warm side in combo with a halogen for day (on a manual dimmer) and a CHE at night. The two reasons for switching out is for day/night cycle and because I think we need a higher wattage CHE because it does not get his ambient temps quite as warm as we would like. But, right now only the UTH is on a thermostat. We know this is potentially, not a safe solution. Also, this requires one of us to manually switch out the light every morning and evening which will not work when we go out of town overnight. This brings me to my questions/thoughts.

1) If we can get proper temps with a CHE is there any issue with the daytime lighting just coming from a nearby desk lamp? With the top covered for humidity and the sides covered to help him feel secure I am not sure what other option there is?

2) More importantly, for safety, I want to get the CHE on a thermostat. A lot of what I am reading says you shouldn't use a dimming thermostat with a CHE. I know we could use a on/off thermostat (and that would be nice for the budget). I found a lot of recommendations for using a pulse proportional thermostat but then I realized there were on UK forums or articles. Will they work with US electric? Are they sold under a different name? Am I just blind and missing it?

I don't want to spend an arm and a leg but I want to make sure he is safe and happy. So far he seems to be settling in great. Although he had only eaten live at the store he took F/T eagerly when she fed him and she has started short handling sessions that he is tolerating well. Thanks, in advance for your advice and suggestions.