My humidity is always high ... make sure you have some holes in the container so air can get through, I would put back on your old lid. Not going to make much a difference on cool side temps. That's just going to be an issue with your house being that cool ... Not really sure what to tell you :-/ The heating pad should be helping keep the cool side warmer than that though.
Also, snaky won't get burned from 98 degrees. 120 might be pushing it, but not 98.