Building a new tank for my Ball, want to do it right and could use some help

[rdubya]

Hey all, hope you can help me with my new tank build. I'm looking to build a new one for my Ball python (murphy), he's about 5 years old now. I've been having a really hard time keeping consistent temperatures and humidity in my current tank which is an older 55 gal aquarium.

I'm having a new one built right now for him from someone locally, dimensions should be around 48x18x18.

So for starts, In the past I ran a single heating pad under the tank and a heat emitter on the top screen. That kept things warm enough during the winter months with a bulb that had the right wattage.

I was thinking of getting 2 heating pads since the size of the tank is quite large and using them with a rheostat which is then plugged into a thermostat. The thermostat would then be connected to a heat emitter as well.

What are your thoughts on this, overkill, or is plugging a rheostat into a thermostat not possible?


What have you all done in terms of keeping humidity right? I've heard foggers will be too much for a ball python. I've been using just plain zoo med aspen while and spritzing the tank with a spray bottle when I can (sometimes I'm out of house for a few days though).