Hi Slick - Most of the people here have much more experience and knowledge than I, but here's what I do. I do have 2 hides - one in the warm side and one in the cool, but my snake is almost always in the cool side. My heating pad is on all of the time, but it covers less than half of the bottom of the tank (on the outside). I don't have a special light, and my snake loves the dark: She comes right out as soon as the lights go down. Hope this helps! Ginny