It is probably accurate for where you are measuring the temp from. You are trying to use a UTH to heat through carpet, and 1 inch of substrate so you will have a significal loss from that. If you put the probe at the glass level it will more than likely read 98 so if your snake burrows down under all of that there is a chance he will be exposed to what the mat is set to. My advice lose the repti-carpet, all its good for is harboring bacteria, thin out your substrate layer, (I think most mat mfg's reccomend less than 1/2inch but you will have to double check on that) and dial in your temps, you will see a lot less loss at that point.
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