Well, I can say that neither heat lamps nor aquariums are evil. I have my cornsnake in an aquarium and I use a heat lamp on her. She's thriving quite well.
I use pine.
I've used heat lamps.
And back in the roaring 70s and 80s all my snakies were kept in aquariums.
But many people today tell me that those things are the hallmark of a bad keeper.