on off thermostat for heat tape?

Burying a spyder robotics thermostat for my snake enclosure. I am buying a proportional one for the heat panel and have an on off one I already own for the heat tape. Is on off okay for flexwatt or is it necessary I spend 200$ on the dual zone thermostat from them?

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it would be best f you could get the Herpstat 2, but it is not 100% necessary

While not as accurate as a proportional an on/off thermostat works just fine for flexwatt.

It depends on the enclosure. Light walled enclosures heat quickly and on offs can cause pricked where heavy walled ones absorb and stabilize the spikes. A bit of space between floor and heat source does the same (like in a rack)


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It is going in am animal plastics t8

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A hydrofarm will work with a T8, but the Herpstat will always be better. Either way you should be fine.

Id get a johnsons from reptile basics for 80 bucks

If you are spending 80 you might as well spend 90 and get the herpstat. On the PVCx an on off will work the issue with hydrofarms is the probe accuracy is very very poor. I'd recommend having a accurate thermometer for use with one but that is harder than it sounds. Cheap ones are no better than the hydrofarm and expensive ones are so expensive that you might as well buy a herpstat that has an accurate probe and will deliver temps as expected.

I have noticed that my flexwatt heats up too fast and cools too fast so it is a huge rollercoaster for the snakes with a on/off tstat. I plugged a dimmer switch in and it stabilized temps so now the thermostat is a back up in case of overheating it will shut off.

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I've always used Johnsons on/offs for my flexwatt (for AP cages) and it's always worked wonderfully for me. I would recommend a Johnsons over a Hydrofarm, though. In my experience the Hydrofarms work just fine for some heaters, but I wouldn't use them for flexwatt because they tend to let the cage cool a bit more before turning on, whereas the Johnsons keep the cage within 2-3 degrees of the desired temp all the time.