Heater VS The Lamp

WHaddup all, i have 3 ball pythons and a 5 foot boa. I have eat lamps for all of them except 1. Which is beter and more convientent, the lamp or the under tank heater? 2 of the lamps i have need to be replaced by bigger wattage and i they all are goin to newspaper when i run out of wood bedding. Is it alright to use a undertank heater with newspaper? and should i have a certain amount of paper so they dont burn themselves? Bedding is expensive so i want to switch to newspaper and mayber undertank heaters but is that a good choice? Thanks to all who reply.

I dont like lights because the tend to dry out the cages. Besides that ball pythons are nocturnal. Heat tape is easier for me cause I use a rack for my ball pythons. I use a radaint heat panel for my boas cage. It would be ok to use the UTH with news paper. If you really wanna make sure they dont burn them self get you a temp gun and make sure the hot spot doesn't go but like 90 to 95. You should use a dimmer or t-stat with them too.

I use newspaper for my snakes and UTH. To keep the heat at the reasonable range I stack the newspaper to a depth that keeps the top of it at the right temp and set a heavy hide on top of the paper on that side of the cage to keep the snakes from going under the paper. I only heat one side.

Too many problems with lights, and I only use red or black if I use them at all. My tarantulas have a black light to one end of their tanks, no lights at all for the snakes.