Best thermostat

I switched my snakes to tubs recently and now we need to update our heating devices. We have been temporarily using heat mats that I had laying around the house. When kept on the lowest setting it keeps their temps perfect but it varies to much at night. I know that this can be dangerous also because they aren't supposed to be all 24/7.

So my question is what would be the best thermostat to use with the ZooMed UTHs? It needs to be able to accurately hold the temps in two tubs.

I'm debating between the ReptiTemp 500r or this one that I found on Ebay. How reliable are they in your opinion? I'm okay with it varying maybe one or two degrees but I'd like it to keep them both at a steady temp.

My opinion with those two choices would be to use the reptitemp500. I use them with uth's and they have little variance. One thing to consider is how many tubs your controlling because the 500r has one probe. If you plan on having more than two tubs or need to control 2 tubs you might have to dink around with the probe placement to get the best reading. Good luck , happy herping.

I would go with the reptitemp. I have one and I have been running it for a couple years now with no problems. Holds temps pretty well. Only fluctuates by a degree or two.

If they only come with one probe then how does it regulate both heat mats?

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Originally Posted by sarahlovesmiike

If they only come with one probe then how does it regulate both heat mats?

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Those kind of thermostats can only regulate two heating devices at the same temperature. They just have to be identical heat sources. So if you plug in two heat mats of the same size, put the probe on one heat mat and the other will heat up the same way.

If you want to set each heat mat to its own temp with just a thermostat, you would need a herpsatat II, which are over $200.

I prefer the Johnson's controls for racks, and Herpstat ND for cages. I would avoid the tstat's your looking at, because for a few bucks more you could get yourself a Johnson's. Good luck.