Do you increase hotspot temps with substrate?

[Reinz]

I keep my probe under the loose substrate... I do either paper towel or reptile carpet directly on the glass because I felt weird about her touching straight to the glass if she did decide to burrow.... and then on the hot side I have a very thin layer of Eco Earth substrate over that (little thicker layer on the cooler side)

My thermometer probe is on top of the reptile carpet, but UNDER the eco earth since like previous posts said, the snake could burrow under that part of it if she wanted

I keep my thermostat for the UTH set at 94* because the layer of reptile carpet blocks some of the heat.... that makes the surface on top of the carpet pretty steady at 90.

This sounds like it is working for you. One thing you keep in mind is not if, but when your snake urinates on top of that probe. The urine will cool down rapidly after soaking through the substrate and will cause the probe to tell your thermostat to increase the temperature. Could this be dangerous? Possibly, it depends upon how long it takes the urine to dry.

It is scary when you have experienced probe misreads. After this happened once to me, I take precautions to make sure that it won't happen again.