Hi I am new to snakes and Kingsnake.com.

I borrowed a ball python and a bearded dragon from a friend to teach a pre-school lesson on reptiles. I was fascinated by the python, he was so beautiful, graceful and tame. I decided then to buy one. My friend told me about a reptile show and we went and I purchased my first snake a normal BP female. I then went on craigslist and asked if anyone had unwanted snakes they wanted to sell for cheap or give away. I now have 6 snakes! I have been reading snake books and websites like crazy to best learn how to best care for them.

My question is, what is the best heating set-up and economical set-up for my six snakes that are all in different glass tanks. I have recently purchased a Tempgun.com PE1 temperature gun.

Here's the specs, on the snake's set ups:
On one table I have one of my Balls in a 30" 29 gallon tank with a UTH (this has a Reti-temp 500R thermostat on it and it is keeping a correct temp). Also a corn snake in a L20" x W12" x H12" tank with a UTH. My kingsnake is in a 30" 29 gallon tank with 2 heat lamps, one with a red night light (50 watt) and a day time basking bulb (75 watt) light.

The other 3 snakes (2 balls, 1 corn) are in 30" 29 gallon tanks with UTH's scattered about the room.

When I first got my temp gun I was horrified to find out that 3 of the UTH's hot spots were around 100 F. I put two of the UTHs on the side of the tank instead of under and now the temps are lower then the ideal temps. I bought a repti-temp 500R to try out on one of them and it seems to be working though it only has 1 probe and if I were to buy 6 of them it would cost about the same price as a fancy proportional thermostat like Helix.

My question, is there a thermostat that has multiple probes to be used on multiple tanks and does it regulate each individual tank or does it take an average of all the tanks? If is does an average then we could have a tank that is really high and one that is really low (not good).

Since it is Christmas time and I have 3 kids and a hubby to buy Christmas gifts for the least expensive, that works, the better. Buying 5 more 500R's is a bit over my head right now.

Would buying a dimmer switch for all of them and setting it with help from my temp gun work? That would be around $60 total for all of them, a much better price.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
AJ