I'm gonna recommend that you go to Wal Mart and get a Sterilite storage tub, and keep the snake in that while you are trying to get the tank setup properly.

The tubs are cheap and easy to get the levels right. I fought a glass tank for a few months, always getting close, but never proper. When I switched to a tub, it was stable in one evening.

I know some people prefer glass, and I'm not trying to steer you away from it, but I bet you will find it less stressful if you're not worrying about hurting the snake in the meantime. You can also use the tub to store the snake when you're cleaning the glass tank, too.

Also, Dr Del is right on about the newspaper. It's way less of a headache than any other stuff. I've been using a rheostat (lamp dimmer) for my UTH for close to a year, and yeah, it requires a little tweaking now and then, but if you monitor your temps (which you need to do even with a t-stat), it's not bad, especially if you only have 1 snake.

If you need more humidity from the water dish, you want a wider bowl, not a deeper bowl. A bowl that's 6" in diameter and 1" deep will generate more humidity than a 5" diameter bowl that's 6" deep. It's about the surface area, not the volume.

Good luck!