Help with new baby hognose setup

Hi, I am a beginner snake keeper and I just bought my first western hognose at a show yesterday. I was given free heat tape to use along with a thermostat to control temps. I've adjusted the thermostat so the tape shuts off at 90 degrees, and kicks back on at 88F. While it seems to heat the glass, the ambient tempature in the tank, both on the hot and cold side, is in the low 70's. I use a laser radar temp gun and Im only reading like 71-72 at the substrate surface. Is this bad for the snake? how can I fix this issue? Also, I am using papertowel as a substrate. I have a couple layers of it down. She spends all of her time underneath the paper towel on the cooler end of the tank. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. (P.s. she is only 6 months and I havent attempted to feed her yet. I was told its best to leave them alone for a week to adjust to their new enviorment)

You said it seems to be heating the glass, but have you temp gunned the glass itself? Also have you temp gunned the heat tape too? Because right now it seems there is no difference between your hot side and the ambient temperature.

To answer your question though yes it is not good for the snake and a good chance it will cause your snake to refuse meals. If it does eat the lack of heat won't be helpful to digesting the food. It is important to rectify the problem ASAP.

Yes, I temped the glass.and it is up to heat (85-89) but the surface of the substrate is about 10 degrees cooler. Im guessing the paper towel is blocking the heat a little bit? If I switched from heat tape to a UTH, would that work better? Recently the snake has been spending more time on the hot side of the tank