Definitely want to get it out of the substrate and off the floor of the enclosure. The reason being is that if the snake pees on it, dumps its water, moves the substrate off the probe, or moves the probe somewhere else it will give an inaccurate reading and tell the heating element to either increase or decrease power incorrectly. I would put the stat probe either hanging under the CHE about halfway down or against the back wall around the same height. I have mine hanging about halfway under my RHPs and set at 84*-85* (just barely behind the RHPs) and they give me hot spots around 89*. It will take a bit of time to dial in your temps this way but once you've got it set up you're pretty much squared away. Try the different probe placements and let it ride for an hour or two and then take temps with an infrared temp gun and adjust the thermostat up or down to hit your target temps. Hope this helps!
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