Tupperware temp

I posted this in the caging section but it's really more of a husbandry question and I figured it might get answered here quicker, so here goes:

I went over to the dark side last night. I was so tempted by the rack plans I was looking at and the plan linked above [see my thread in caging] that I went and bought a Sterilite drawer setup. It has 4 drawers, 2 deep and 2 shallow, and there's room under the bottom one for a human heat pad and under the others for flexwatt. I rearranged the drawers so that the deep ones are top and bottom with the shallow in the middle, because I feel like that creates a heat trap better and because it would protect a climbing snake from getting burned. I wasn't sure how well a snake would be able to push out the front of the drawer just enough to slither out, so I added velcro on both sides for security.

It's definitely holding humidity better than the aquarium, but I'm a little concerned about the temperature. On the warm side on top of the substrate (newspaper) it was about 85F. I don't want to cut up the top and add a light because I think that would mess with my humidity and boost the temp too high, not to mention I think Snyder would be happier without it. Is 85F okay, or do I really need to get it up another couple of degrees? If so, how would you do it?

it needs to be raised about 4 degrees at the least

how do you have the heat tape and heat pad regulated

what do you have to protect the snake from the flexwatt tape in the container above

also how many layers of newspaper do have laid down
reducing the amount of layers might help bring the surface temp up

I have two drawers in the middle which aren't now occupied and I don't expect them to be, by snakes, they hold hemostats, spare bulbs, etc, so there's no risk of burn. Bottom drawer is currently unoccupied too, but I hope to fix that after the reptile show on the 17th. I have not yet found a local source for a thermostat, so I don't have one yet, but it is on my "to get" list. I currently have about 8 layers of newspaper down, overlapping in the middle. Is that too much?

Thanks for responding.