10 gallon setup for my baby albino ball

i have never used the 500r but i am using a hydrofarm i ordered off of amazon for 30 bucks. it seems to work just fine for my snake. i have noticed a lot of bad reports on the 500r but quite a few people on here use the hydrofarm with good results. i would definately get rid of your heat lamp. what type of lid do you have for your tank? if screen, check out the stickies for the tin foil trick.

get her all set up and lets see some pics :D

later, dave

The 500r is a very very poor t-stat. The time it takes to kill the power to the heater is very long and large temps swings can result. Especially in cool rooms. I am currently testing 3 hydrofarms I have yet to complete testing but initial views is the probe accuracy is living up to the specs of just shy of 3ºF. As the hydrofarm techs point out it is very accurate for seedling starting. Personally I don't think that is very accurate. The response is actually fairly fast it appears to be within one second.

Typically you get what you pay for with T-Stats. They are a critical for safety and health of your snake. Temps are critical, a little too hot your snake cannot digest and will not eat, a lot too hot result in burns and possibly death. Too low you snake cannot digest food and will not eat. Never under rate the importance of temps. Your t-stat is the first line of defence of your snakes health.

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Originally Posted by 6spdrt

what do you guys think of the repti temp 500R by zoo med??? is this a good thermostat???

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I have used this one in my QT room with good results. However, I'll second the other comments that it needs to be in a room with stable temps - otherwise, the proportional stats are the way to go.

so if i'm looking for a good reliable thermostat what's a good one for me to get??? and where do i get it??? i really want to thank you guys for all the help, i appreciate it and i'm sure my baby ball will too.

The hydrofarms are ok not great ok. Ranco and johnsons are a bit better slightly better probe accuracy at +/- 2ºF the response (likely more critical) seems to be about the same for all. The proportional units like herpstat, VE, ecozone, helix all are very similar the ecozone with the most features and helix the least. Basically they are all the same all solid units with the differences in the way they set up.

On/Off types do best with reasonably stable room temps and enclosures with lots of thermal mass (like a glass tank) They have more variation in temp than others. Proportional are the most versatile and do well in almost all conditions. They are more complex units and fail at a slightly higher rate than on offs do but that is still quite small.

Most of them can be purchased direct or from many large reptile pet suppliers.

is the hydrofarm thermostat you guys are talking about the --- "hydrofarm seedling heat mat digital thermometer"??????????

Yes that is the one.

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Originally Posted by 6spdrt

what do you guys think of the repti temp 500R by zoo med??? is this a good thermostat???

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I have 2 of them, for a low end therm they are ok