Thermostat

I would still save up the extra $20 and get a wired Ranco or JC thermostat. Digital thermostats, even if they are on/off style, work better in a room with fluctuating temps than a rheostat does.


Home Depot sells rheostats by Lutron and they run $10 plus tax. I have a couple around the house and they work great for what they do. But they sure don't work great if your house temp fluctuates alot.

If you have two heating pads underneath your enclosure, a good economical way to control both at the same time is: plug hotside heating pad into thermostat, set the temp and make sure it's stable. Then use one of those Lutron Credenza rheostats, plug it into the thermostat, then plug the other heating pad into the rheostat, dial it down halfway(and measure temps to make sure it's dimmed enough) and let it stabilize. You should find that it keeps the temps on both sides perfect. Thermostats are wonderful things.

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Originally Posted by PythonWallace

A rheostat is better than an on/off thermo if you have an UTH, as long as you keep an eye on it.

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I am going to have to disagree with you there. I would much rather have that 1 degree swing with my JC than the possibilty of my temps dropping too much because my room got colder.

I have used Zoomed rheostats for years without any problems.. the huge factor here is, there can not be temperature fluctuations in the room that your caging is in. If there are, your temps will go all crazy and you'll probably end up with some crispy critters.
If you never listen to anything I ever type again, please use this advice: buy a Helix proportional thermostat. I have mine on my incubator now, and while I am still waiting for the eggs, it has been running for a few weeks now with a Stunning accuracy rats. I love this thing; I already experimented by opening windows in the room it's in.. the temps in my kitchen have gone from 65 to 80 in the past month and That Darned Thermostat has kept the temps right-on in that incubator!!
I can not wait until incubation is over. All of my rheostats are going up on ebay; probably my UTHs too.. Flexwatt on a Helix is the only way to drive.

Would you guys post some direct links to site that sell these things?

Thanks.

Zoo Med Rheostat

Hope that helps. :)

ReptileBasics.com is a good supplier for Thermos... all though, I don't believe he sells the cheapo models.

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

I am going to have to disagree with you there. I would much rather have that 1 degree swing with my JC than the possibilty of my temps dropping too much because my room got colder.

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I hear what you are saying, but I still think that a rheostat is safer than an on/off thermo. for a UTH, as long as you are keeping an eye on it. If you calibrate it regularly at 92 you can have an ambient temp. swing of 3-4 degrees with no ill effect. A 3-4 degree shift is a stretch in most cases. On the other hand, an on/off with a UTH can fry a snake at full power in a short period of time. Plus, the rheostat would only be temporary while he saves for a Helix or HerpStat, which is much better in the long run.

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Originally Posted by PythonWallace

I hear what you are saying, but I still think that a rheostat is safer than an on/off thermo. for a UTH, as long as you are keeping an eye on it. If you calibrate it regularly at 92 you can have an ambient temp. swing of 3-4 degrees with no ill effect. A 3-4 degree shift is a stretch in most cases. On the other hand, an on/off with a UTH can fry a snake at full power in a short period of time. Plus, the rheostat would only be temporary while he saves for a Helix or HerpStat, which is much better in the long run.

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An on/off UTH usually has a 1-3 degree shift. If it's "frying a snake", there's something wrong with it. Again, in my experience, the rheostats have caused a great deal more incidents than Ranco's or JC's.

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Originally Posted by jhall1468

An on/off UTH usually has a 1-3 degree shift. If it's "frying a snake", there's something wrong with it. Again, in my experience, the rheostats have caused a great deal more incidents than Ranco's or JC's.

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OK. I've never used an on/off thermostat, so I'm sure you're right. I thought the shift for those was more than that, so I was worried about using one for UTH. I just don't see anything wrong with temporarily using a $7 rheostat while saving for a proportional thermostat. I use a rheostat for my rack without issues, but my snake room has a consistant ambiant temp. and I keep an eye on my temps. daily. I only use it because I have stable room temps. and using a dimmer is less costly and more energy efficient than turning something on and off constantly. For the OP, I thought it would suffice until he could save up another $50 for a Helix.

I recently took my daughters snake to the breeder that we purchased her from and was concerned about a problem that i noticed on the snake. She is a BP and she is been feeding well and shedding ok at least we thought.We have the temp in the 29 gal tank at 80-90f and the humidity at 55% . The breeder told us that apparently she has had a few incomplet sheds and did not shed the skin off at the small tip of her tail and he said she will be ok but wonder will this part of the tail fall off or will it continue to get worse and should i take the snake to the vet to maybe have the vet remove that part of the tail ? unsure of what to really do . this is the 1st snake we have ever bought . if anyone can help with any information on what to do about this it would be greatly appreciated.Thankyou for and to anybody who can offer this information.