I'm setting up my tank in preparation for a new milksnake of some variety. I want some advice on the temperatures.

Our apartment has central air and I live in Florida. During the day we keep it set around 77-80F. At night, it rarely, if ever drops below 70F. A few nights through the winter it got down to 68 (got colder than I expected).

We used to keep the apartment cooler, and then used a heat lamp or heating pad for our corns so they could have a gradiant.

But for the past couple of months we've just given them no heat or gradiant during the day because the ambient air temp has been 77 , and only at night turning on the heating pads so there is a warm spot if they want it.

Would this be safe option for a baby milksnake or adult milksnake?

The second question is this. Our corns don't burrow much, and the heating pads are weak enough they don't get super warm (I've checked with a thermometer). The heating pad for the bigger tanks are higher watt and I keep them in check with a dimmer switch. The heat pad for the milk snake was reaching 107F. What is the absolute maximum temperature you deem safe for a milk snake?

Anything over 100F makes me uncomfortable. I rationalize 100F because with a inch or so of substrate the temp on top is closer to 80F (verified with thermometer) and I figure 100F can't burn an animal, that's only a 1-2 degrees warmer than my hands.

But, it seems like milks burrow more and might be at higher risk of hanging out at 100 degree temps. So what is the highest safest temp at the glass, that will still keep the surface temp up?

Some people have told me to ditch the substrate, use newspaper, and set it so the newspaper level temp is more than 92 or so, but I am stubborn really like my natural looking substrate.

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