There are a lot of reasons why they will wonder. The pace matters is the snake tongue flicking the whole time or not? Does the activity seem rushed jerky or smooth and causal? Has he been feeding?

it is possible that the animal is just curious.

Hydrofarms are not known to be accurate at all, I would not trust what ever it reads I have checked 7 units (new and improved ones LOL) and not one was correct. Accurites are cheap digital thermometers with a simple resistive chip. The accuracy is spec'd (I have been told) at 2ºC up or down this is a very wide even if it is the 2ºF I believed it is still quite wide. The problem with what you are describing is you have nothing of known value to check against. The easy option is buy a traceable high accurate thermometer but almost all baulk at the price, I actually would not suggest this route but a more accurate t-stat would be quite a lot cheaper. The not so great but less costly option is to buy a pair more thermometers of your choice (better would be 4 more...). They can be checked against each other any that appear incorrect can be discarded. I personally find accurites to be grossly over priced, I usually pay 3-5 dollars for a dual hygrometer thermometer of the same (if it is 2ºF) or greater (if it is 2ºC) spec'd unit.