Thermostat for heat lamp too?

[maskedburito]

Everyone talks about how important it is to run a thermostat for the uth but what about the heat lamp?

I have never recorded my under tank heater over 90, probably because I have repti carpet down, so to me I feel it's not necessary to have a thermostat there.

I would think it be more important for the heat lamp! If I went away for a few days Id like to know the ambient air temperature doesn't fluctuate. Does anyone else use a thermostat for their heat lamp? And does anyone not use one for their heat pad?


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[SKO]

Heat lamp should be on a dimmer switch or rheostat. A tstat should always be used for a uth no matter what. The uth should have a hotshot of atleast 92f. Also, how are you measuring that temp of the uth?

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[alucard0822]

I'm lazy, and might be stuck away from home for a few days on short notice, have thermostats on warm side, cool side, and UTH, and a humidistat to a fogger for my Python's terrarium. With our last beardie I grew to like the zoo med dual mini deep dome lights, a pair of lights at lower wattage heats a larger area with less intense spot than a single large bulb, burns off less humidity, safer for the snake, run to a thermostat you get consistent temps all the time year round. I put together a lot of gear I had from various aquarium and terrarium setups, one CHE on/of to a thermostat and one blacklight on a rheostat in each of the 2 fixtures, fogger piped in through the top, light strip across the top on a timer for day/night lighting. CHEs heat up and cool down slower than bulbs, so they work well with thermostats, I turn down the bulbs a little below the level needed to maintain temps, so the thermostats bring up and control the temps, but don't have to work as hard if they were on their own.

I just fill the humidifier bottle and change the water dish every few days, and look for any burned out bulbs, the redundancy won't drop temps with 1 bulb out, it would probably be OK even with 2 burned out. I set it for 55%humidity(65% during a shed), 88 warm side air temp, 82 cool side air temp, 92 on the substrate over the UTH, 95 on the glass below it, and it stays right there, measured with a non-contact temp gun. All I have to do is clean/disinfect the cage, feed, water, and enjoy my snake. You really don't need all that gear, you can get good temps with specific bulb wattages, or rheostats, but it has to be monitored and adjusted to stay consistent, my setup Is extremely consistent long term despite temp or humidity changes in the surrounding house.

[Sauzo]

I have my CHE on a rheostat(lamp dimmer) which works fine. Just got to dial it in to the right ambient temp. If you do use a thermostat, be sure to use a proportional dimming style thermostat as a proportional can cause heat lamps to flicker rapidly as they cycle on/off really really fast. Dimming styles just reduce the voltage to the device but still keep power to it like a smart lamp dimmer. As far as I know, all Herpstats have the dimming feature and I think only 1 model of the VE have dimming.

[maskedburito]

I am really trying to avoid spending the 250 dollars on a herpstat, as I am in Canada. But the herpstat 2 seems like the logical choice to control the uth and the lamp.

I was going to go with the hydrofarm thermostat as I am a student on a budget but I guess this needs to last me the next 30 years haha so might as well invest now. Everyone agree herpstat 2 the best way to kill two birds with one stone for this?


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[Sauzo]

I use a Herpstat 1 for my RHP in my boa cage and a Hydrofarm for the UTH on my BP cage and honestly, other than the clicking the Hydrofarm makes when it comes on or goes off, it seems to work pretty good. It has a swing of 0.7f which isn't too bad for a $30 thermostat. I use a lamp dimmer for my CHE on the bp cage. Really its your call. The herpstats are really nice and have lots of bells and whistles but unless you are planning on using all that, hard to beat the price of the hydrofarm to just run your UTH. Now the Herpstat has more safety features while the Hydrofarm has one where it will shut down if the temp goes over 108f. The main advantage for the Herpstat is the proportional dimming feature which is a big plus for RHPs, CHEs and pretty much required if you want to use it on heat lamps. But like I said, your call, if you got the cash go for the Herpstat, you wont regret it but if you are strapped and need something, the Hydrofarm fits the bill nicely assuming like I said, you plan to only run the UTH with it.

[maskedburito]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I figured my snake will live 30 years so the investment in the herpstat makes sense. Just ordered the herpstat two, hurt a bit especially with the canadian usa exchange rate but it will be worth it in the long run.

Might try the hydrofarm on my corn snake in the future.

I will report back how it all goes.


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