It's hard to compare the safety of plants to the safety of a snake. But if the snake pooped on it then it would give the wrong reading and you would have take it out and clean it and if you didnt catch it right away the thermostat would not heat the same. Plus the fact if the snake does bump the wire and the probe is no longer sitting up against the glass then the thermostat would be heating the uth way to hot to try to get probe back to temp.

When you put the thermostat probe between the cage and uth you will have to bump up the the thermostat do to heat loss through the glass. Just take your temp inside under substrate and have it no higher than 94. If your not getting a temp of 88-90 om top of substrate thin out your substrate over the uth to get it to temp.

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