You should not have ANYTHING the snake can contact hotter than 94-5º. The glass on the bottom included. It is irrelevant what the t stat is set to as long as nothing is much hotter than 94. Snakes bodily functions start to shut down when the snakes temps reach 96 so allowing access to anything approaching this is simply not a good idea. Personally I have the T-stat set to 92º and this delivers 90º to the warm side.