Never heard the ceramic tile thing myself.
I can tell you it would take about 140 degrees to start affecting PVC Plastics, and 500 degrees to affect PET Plastics, and all other plastics would lie somewhere in between. (Courtesy of a Google search).
If you're worried about your heat mat melting the plastic tub, your snake would most likely be dead from the heat first, but I suppose it could happen.
You stated you have a thermostat. If you set it to the correct temps, it should never get hot enough to hurt the snake or melt the plastic.
There are several folks here that use heat pads and/or heat tape along with plastic tubs, and I've not heard anyone mention anything about using ceramic tiles.
They do actually make ceramic heat panels that people sometime use for reptiles, but they are generally used overhead.
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