does the probe on the thermomiter read the actual temp of the hot spot?

or does it read the ambiant temp above the hotspot? im talking about the accurite therm with probe.

That depends on where you put it. If you put it under the substrate at the hot spot it will show that spots temp. If you put it on the cage wall it will give you the ambient temp.

I prefer a IR temp gun to get the actual temp on top of the substrate at the hot spot. Depending on your substrate the surface temp can be much different than the cage floor.

i use paper towels. my bps love laying directly on the botom. it is reading 89 from the probe just making sure that it isnt getting an ambient and is really like 100+ lol Thank you very much!