Thermostats

So, um. It has come to my attention that something that seems absolutely necessary is a thermostat to control the heat output. So far, I'm been just using a digital thermometer/ dimmer to control the heat output, since the thermostat for my half the house is always set between 5*. The only thermostats I've seen are $50 at petco. Any suggestions?

You can use a dimmer to control your heat source, as long as you are monitoring the temps with an accurate thermometer.

You just need to manually dial the dimmer in to reduce the heat output to get desired temp.

I use a $30 ReptiTemp 500r thermometer. It has a temp probe you put on the heat source, and then you adjust the heat output on a slider. It will then shut on/off the heat source to maintain that range. A dimmer simply lowers the output power.

If it works for you, I would just use that. The important thing is that you have something on your heat source (UTH) to keep the temps from skyrocketing in the 100+ range. (i.e, having an uncontrolled UTH is bad. It will get extremely hot.)

Cool. That's what I'm doing. I check the T several times a day, and adjust the slider accordingly. I use a digital thermometer with a probe to check the temperatures.

but just for reference, where can I get that thermometer?

Just search "Repti Temp 500R" in google shopping, and it'll come up with a bunch of places you can order it from, and will list the price for you. That's how I found mine.

And you can get them at reptile shows for about $25.

Ah, that's right. x]

Thanks for the help!