Best gun thermostat...

Hi guys n gals. Hope all is well.
So after my last post I managed to sort some new exo terra thermostats which seemed to read all more or less barring half a c between them. Now it seems I'm having the same issue of them all telling me different temps. I know one or two of you have mentioned those heat gun things before and am wondering what the best one would be to go for.

I’ve got three.. all different manufacturers, bought off different sellers on eBay about 3 years apart .

All three were under £10 / 9 dollars each .

All give almost identical readings so the cheap ones are great in my view .https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...17a2ce468f.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...59156fa2e.jpeghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...85b374cac6.jpg


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This is the one I use. It's a little more expensive at $26 but it was recommended by several reptile keepers when I first got started with bearded dragons and leopard geckos.

https://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Lase...%20to%20return

Thanks. Will have to order tomorrow eve!
Also can I also ask.... When I'm taking the temp of hot end of viv, am I just shooting tbs laser into the hot end if aiming it at something. Also, when taking snake temp, should this be same temp as hot end of tank? Sorry.. This part of its all new to me!!!

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Originally Posted by Newbiehelpme

Thanks. Will have to order tomorrow eve!
Also can I also ask.... When I'm taking the temp of hot end of viv, am I just shooting tbs laser into the hot end if aiming it at something. Also, when taking snake temp, should this be same temp as hot end of tank? Sorry.. This part of its all new to me!!!

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So no, the snake won't be the same temp as the hot end, but I'm not familiar with what a snake's temp should be so I'll let more experienced keepers comment on that.

As far as what you're aiming at, the infrared temp guns only measure surface temp, so I would recommend spot checking throughout your enclosure, but pay special attention to the inside of your warm hide. I also like to check underneath my CHE just to make sure I don't have a hot spot on a branch or something that my snake can get to. Even though everything is controlled by thermostats, I still like to double check.

Great. So shoot it into the warm hide. In terms of the hot spots. I'm guessing you mean nothing over the 32c?

We could do with an electronics geek to offer some advice on these digital temp guns ..

Our tech-guy at work was saying that a lot of the time these ‘gadgets’ are basically all the same ‘inside’ .. even made in the the same factories.

Then the companies put them in their company ‘shell’ and charge what they want ..

I’ve even seen some unscrupulous sellers online selling the exact same thing at 10 dollars / 100 dollars/ 150 dollars ..


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Originally Posted by Newbiehelpme

Great. So shoot it into the warm hide. In terms of the hot spots. I'm guessing you mean nothing over the 32c?

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Yea right around that, I run a degree or two warmer in my warm hide, but really I'm looking at anything over say, 33c

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

Yea right around that, I run a degree or two warmer in my warm hide, but really I'm looking at anything over say, 33c

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So meaning ... ‘nothing’ over 33C ??


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Originally Posted by Zincubus

We could do with an electronics geek to offer some advice on these digital temp guns ..

Our tech-guy at work was saying that a lot of the time these ‘gadgets’ are basically all the same ‘inside’ .. even made in the the same factories.

Then the companies put them in their company ‘shell’ and charge what they want ..

I’ve even seen some unscrupulous sellers online selling the exact same thing at 10 dollars / 100 dollars/ 150 dollars ..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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Yes that's most electronics these days, made in the same factory, same stuff, different company name slapped on the outside.

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

So meaning ... ‘nothing’ over 33C ??


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I apologize my conversion was a little off. Let me us F instead of C and then hopefully I can explain better. My hotspot, which is the UTH under the warm hide is set to 92f. I don't want anything in my enclosure hotter than say 94f which I think is closer to 35c?

My ambient temps are maintained with a CHE, and even though it's also on a thermostat I check it just to be safe to make sure it isn't maintaining ambient temps but creating some spot on a piece of decor that's like 100f or something crazy like that. Let me be really clear, these are just the temps I aim for, I am VERY new to keeping a BP and use these temps just to play it safe. I'm here to be educated though, so if I'm doing something wrong I'm 100% okay with you guys calling me out.

what thermostat do you use?

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Originally Posted by Newbiehelpme

what thermostat do you use?

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Currently I'm running Jump Start and Zoomed's thermostats. The only downside of both of these is that if they fail, they fail in the on position, which is why I do checks constantly just to ensure everything is working as intended. Once my new enclosure gets here I plan on swapping over to herpstats, but for now these are working well for me.

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

I apologize my conversion was a little off. Let me us F instead of C and then hopefully I can explain better. My hotspot, which is the UTH under the warm hide is set to 92f. I don't want anything in my enclosure hotter than say 94f which I think is closer to 35c?

My ambient temps are maintained with a CHE, and even though it's also on a thermostat I check it just to be safe to make sure it isn't maintaining ambient temps but creating some spot on a piece of decor that's like 100f or something crazy like that. Let me be really clear, these are just the temps I aim for, I am VERY new to keeping a BP and use these temps just to play it safe. I'm here to be educated though, so if I'm doing something wrong I'm 100% okay with you guys calling me out.

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Sounds like you’ll be absolutely with such a great attitude !!

It was just the way you worded it ... as though you’d be happy for anything OVER 33C :)

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“ I run a degree or two warmer in my warm hide, but really I'm looking at anything over say, 33C”



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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Sounds like you’ll be absolutely with such a great attitude !!

It was just the way you worded it ... as though you’d be happy for anything OVER 33C :)

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“ I run a degree or two warmer in my warm hide, but really I'm looking at anything over say, 33C”



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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Oh I see what you're saying! I apologize! Yea what I mean was I'm looking FOR anything over 33C so I can correct it. Sometimes I my fingers type faster than my brain is working haha

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Originally Posted by Hugsplox

Oh I see what you're saying! I apologize! Yea what I mean was I'm looking FOR anything over 33C so I can correct it. Sometimes I my fingers type faster than my brain is working haha

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I’m just as bad if not worse !!

:)


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Hiya. So I have my gun and am working out my next issue although am not sure if it's an issue that's going to happen anyway.
So, I've tested temps a few times. First two times we're slightly warmer (testing within minutes of each other). Third test stated 31.7c great. After this, temp dropped to 30.9c and remained at 30.8/30.9c. I've turned stat up minutely and temp now reading 33c under bulb and 31.7c in hide. My main concern is the fact the temp is going up and down still and I'm not understanding how to get it to one temp and keep it there. Is it a case of the stat having a lowest temp and then turning the heat on more and vice verse for to hot?

Also if I find the heat under the bulb gets hotter than the rest of the hot spot... How do I control theat. I've seen somewhere else about having a heat high or something it was called.

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Originally Posted by Newbiehelpme

Hiya. So I have my gun and am working out my next issue although am not sure if it's an issue that's going to happen anyway.
So, I've tested temps a few times. First two times we're slightly warmer (testing within minutes of each other). Third test stated 31.7c great. After this, temp dropped to 30.9c and remained at 30.8/30.9c. I've turned stat up minutely and temp now reading 33c under bulb and 31.7c in hide. My main concern is the fact the temp is going up and down still and I'm not understanding how to get it to one temp and keep it there. Is it a case of the stat having a lowest temp and then turning the heat on more and vice verse for to hot?

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Minor fluctuations are gonna happen especially with a CHE. If you want to really dial it in, a lot of people use proportional thermostats, like the ones from Spyder Robotics (who come highly recommend from other users here). Those types of thermostats will change out much power they're pushing to your heating elements depending on how much heat is needed to get back to your preset temperature.

Something like what I use, and what you're probably using, is a simple on/off thermostat. The issue I've noticed using those with a CHE, is it takes awhile for a CHE to warm up, and then by the time it gets hot enough to trigger your thermostat to shut off, the bulb itself still stays pretty hot for awhile after. That's probably, if I had to guess, why you're seeing the minor fluctuations.

You just have to remember that these guys come from a place where the temp varies depending on where they are. I think a degree or two either way, +/-, from where you want to be is fine. I've had to learn to trust my snake to move to where he needs to be to be comfortable.

That's exactly what's happening. Would you suggest changing my dimmer stat to pulse stat then?
It's just frustrating and very stressful sd I do worry about him obviously. Thanks for everyone's help so far

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Originally Posted by Newbiehelpme

That's exactly what's happening. Would you suggest changing my dimmer stat to pulse stat then?
It's just frustrating and very stressful sd I do worry about him obviously. Thanks for everyone's help so far

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To be honest, I haven't upgraded yet. I have my CHE in a dimmable fixture, hooked to a thermostat just to keep it from overheating, but I have the dimmer turned down low enough that it basically runs 24-7 and I just played with it until I got the perfect temp, which is about 2 degrees cooler than what my stat is set to, so it never shuts it off. It took me about 2-3 days of playing with the dimmer, and I did this before I got my snake during my enclosure testing.

Now I have a Animal Plastics enclosure ordered, and once it ships I'll order a pulse stat for the RHP. Right now I'm just doing what's worked so far. I try to disclaim all my advice by saying I'm very new to ball pythons, so all my advice is based on my use of these products with reptiles that I have a lot more experience with. I can tell you that I've kept my leopard gecko healthy and happy with a simple on/off stat for his heating pad, and my BP's heating bad is on a on/off stat. I like to steer people away from spending more money on equipment if something cheaper is safe and works for you, but, you can't really put a price on peace of mind, which is why I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a AP enclosure. So I would say it's up to you, if you're financially able to pick one of those up go for it, but if you can probably dial it in with what you have if you need to wait.

Edit: Just to be clear too, and I thought of this after posting so forgive the edit. Dimmer and pulse, unless I'm mistaken, are both proportional thermostats. The dimmer is what I was referring to when I said it would reduce the power to your heating device to keep it at whatever temperature you set it to, while a pulse stat just turns it on and off very quickly to keep the temperature. Personally, I would rather have a dimming stat that would just turn the power down to my CHE. I think I've accomplished this myself with a dimming fixture and a cheap on/off stat, but the longevity of this set up may be an issue.

Thanks. I've managed to stabilise the temp as you have said and have a period either in the evening or early morning when temps seem to be all over the place before corrscting themselves. Luckily they never go over 33.5c and never below 29c. Thanks for the great help