cheap thermostat

[munky5435]

i use a UTH and im on a tight budget and i found out a lamp dimmer does the same job as a thermostat. its inexpensive and costed me 12 bucks with tax. i found it at Lowe's just thought i would let everyone know who didnt know about this.

[tmlowe5704]

a dimmer does not do what a thermostat does. it takes a lot more time to get the temps right with that. with a dimmer, you turn this power to the heater up or down but with a thermostat, it does it itself and adjusts power to it to provide a constant heat

[MarkS]

It doesn't really do the same thing, it just reduces the power to the unit. For instance lets say that the surrounding temp is at 70 and you have your rheostat dialed in so that the hot spot over the heat tape is at 90. If the surrounding temps should be raised up to 80 degrees (maybe it's a hot day outside, or there is a lot of sunlight coming into the room heating it up) Your hot spot could raise to 100 degrees (it's still receiving the same amount of power). But if your heat source were on a Thermostat, and you had the thermostat dialed into 90 degees, even if the surrounding temps got higher, your hot spot would still be at 90 because it adjusts to the temperature, not just reducing the power.

Rheostats (dimmer switches) are nice, and certainly better then nothing. But they're still not quite as good as a real thermostat.

Mark

[ZEKESMOM]

okay I am going to jump in on this post..sorry. I also have a uth and having probs with keeping a constant temp now that nights are colder here in tucson. What kind of thermostat do I buy to hook the uth too and how do I do it?

[TekWarren]

There are several popular brands of thermostats and some have different added features. If you do a search you'll find out alot. I need one asap so I ordered the basic original Herpstat (that's the model) since Spyder Robotics (the manufacturer) is just in the state south of me. MG Reptiles also posts often with this type of equipment for sale but again a search will bring up alot of info and topics which you can post in if something is not covered clearly enough.

[MarkS]

MG Reptiles also posts often with this type of equipment for sale

I just ordered a couple of Rancos from him, they're cheaper then from the Boaphile. I haven't gotten them yet, but they should be here soon. They're supposed to come with an 8 foot probe cord. A lot of places will send them with the shortest probe cords they think they can get away with. I just hate that.

[elevatethis]

Unfortunately, you get what you pay for. The downside of the dimmer, compared to a real thermostat, is that the dimmer will not automatically adjust the power setting as the temperature of the room fluctuates. Basically, you'll be adjusting the dimmer constantly to maintain a stable temperature (stable=very important for ball pythons). It will work, but will be a lot more work on your part.

Check out Reptilebasics.com for a good selection of thermostats if you think you'd be in the market. You'll realize what we're talking about once you get one- you kind of have to have your hands on one to really "get it", and I promise you'll never look back after that.

[joepythons]

I use the thermostate from www.reptilesupply.com. It only costs $25 plus shipping but its worth it.I have a couple in use at this time,one on a 7 tub rack,one on my corn snakes(6 tanks with UTH) and the temps are perfect.I realize your on a budget(like us all) but like the old saying goes "you get what you paid for".A couple extra bucks compared to your snakes being heated properly is well worth it in my opinion.

[munky5435]

yeah i know a dimmer is the only thing i can afford right now being a poor college student. but which thermostats do you recommend for me to get so i can know how much i need to start saving up for.

[elevatethis]

Ideally, a proportional thermostat like a helix or herpstat ($109-129) will perform the best. Beneath that, you have Johnson Controls and Ranco "on-off" type thermostats ($60-70).

Then further down in quality there's the ZooMed 500R (~$29.99), available at any petsmart or petco, which I wouldn't recommend...I ran it for 3 months when it blew, and instead of turning off, it let my heat source run on full blast for some time before I found out.

Helix, herpstat, JC, or Ranco get my vote.