I think I went overboard on my RHP

OK, so over the summer I upgraded Apollo to his forever tank, an animal plastics t8. He's loved it and I've loved it too, temps have been so easy to maintain and it's just been a dream working with this setup. But when I bought it I also got a RHP and, based on the advice on the website I got an 80w as it was reccommended if your house gets into the 60s or colder in the winter. My house has already started getting decently colder, it was down to ~65 in here a few times already... problem is seemingly even on the lowest setting on my thermostat the RHP gets way too hot and brings his warm side temps up above 94.

Did I go overboard? Should I be ordering the 40watt now before this becomes too much more of a problem? As is I cannot reliably keep it on when I'm not around to monitor it for fear of it getting way too warm in there for my little guy, but if I leave it off too long his temps drop too low. I know I also need to upgrade the size of his UTH at some point, that's an easy one once I get there.

This is what's going on in his current setup if needed. http://imgur.com/a/KhWsL

When I woke up this morning, after running the RHP intermittently yesterday, his temps were reading at 76 hot and 67 cool... far far far too cold. But now after having the RHP run for about 10 minutes his warm side is already reading 92, cool side is up to 70.

He's currently out here with me, hugging juuust a bit too tightly.
So... that's where I am. I'm really feeling like I'm gonna need to buy the 40w RHP and either sell or save this 80w for any larger enclosures I may have in the future. Do any of you live in colder homes? Is the 40w enough? Would the 40w with a bigger UTH make a significant difference? Winter is still a bit off but I want to get this handled right now so my poor baby isn't risking respiratory problems.

You are using a thermostat to run the RHP, correct?


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Yes, I've got two of these https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-RT10-...ile+thermostat

The RHP and UTH area each running on their own because of how hot the RHP gets even on the lowest setting.

**quick edit** and I've already needed to turn the RHP off again as after 20 minutes it had already brought the hot side up to 98. x.x

I think your problem is your thermostat. You would do best having a proportional thermostat that would gradually adjust the power to the RHP rather than just switch it on and off. You've spent so much on a gorgeous cage, RHP and went cheap on the thermostat :)

I have T8 cages and use Pro Heat RHP (88W) but run them using Herpstats. I see some temperature fluctuations when the RHP is heating, but it stays within a small temperature band.


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RHP's are meant to be run with a proportional t-stat. You purchased a rheostat, basically a lamp dimmer. Do you have it set as low as it will go?

Yes, it is set as low as it can go. And alright, I'll look into getting a different thermostat then... is the herpstat the only good option for something like this? If I need to shell out for one I will, but is there a lower price tier one that would work as well? Gonna go poke through options myself right now as well.

https://www.amazon.com/MTPRTC-ETL-Ce...words=herpstat

Would something like this work as well? Sorry for the double post, just trying to consider options. Given the cost of the herpstat I feel I'd rather find a simpler option at first and get one of the herpstats that supports multiple devices once I've expanded my collection a bit more. At any rate got a free trial of amazon prime for the rest of the month so good timing for getting this here as quickly as I can.

The problem with these on an RHP are they are not proportional and have a 2° delta. Let's say you have it set to 88°, it will turn off when it reads 88°. It will then allow it to cool down to 86°. At this point it will crank the RHP full power until it reaches 88° again (although your temp will probably rise above that since the RHP is still hot and emitting heat).

The proportional system are best because they gradually add heat and are capable of keeping a tighter tolerance on your temp.

Will it work? It will work better than what you have now. It's only $30. Doesn't hurt to try it. They make a nice backup in any case. And yes, there are other options besides Herpstat. There's Helix controls, Vivarium electronics, ranco. I've only used Herpstat so can't speak as to the cost/quality of the others.


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Thanks for the advice. I'll grab that up for now and if I'm still finding it lacking I'll go to the herpstat and still have a nicer one for his UTH, so nothing will be wasted except the ones I'm replacing anyway. :P Would be best for me to wait a bit on the more expensive one anyway as my last two paychecks have mostly gone to utilities thanks to the power company... billed us estimates the last few months THEN actually read our meter and slapped us with a huge bill out of nowhere. and here I thought we were just doing a good job conserving energy. ;)

Thank you so much for the advice, he's my only snoot and I never plan on having a huge collection (plans currently for leopord geckos and 2 more BPs down the road) so I might as well spoil the crap out of them.

I think this has been covered but just to be clear, the thing you have is a rheostat, not a thermostat. It simply limits the electrical current it does not read or respond to the actual temperature. As bcr said, it's basically a lamp dimmer. I have a 40W rhp suspended about 14 inches high and I have it plugged into an actual lamp dimmer (arguably a higher quality part than what Zoomed offers) and that is plugged into a simple on/off thermostat for safety redundancy. I generally have the dimmer set to about 80% and that keeps the floor directly below it between 80 and 83. I have a uth to one side to provide the hot spot - it is controlled the exact same way except the the dimmer is usually below 50% and even then I've seen the thermostat kill the power a few times (temp ranges between 87 and 90) Now my boa is in a finished basement so the temps are always a bit cooler, but also very consistent so I can get away with this setup. If the temp of the room your snake is in fluctuates too much over the course of the day and night then a proportional thermostat may be your best option.