UTH with dimmer switch?

[RobertsKitty]

Let me start out by saying my husband and I are newly weds and first time home buyers so money is and will be for quite awhile, tight. I can't afford to spend $99 on a herpstat. We have less than that to spend on two weeks off groceries! I currently have my T8 with a heat lamp on a dimmer. I monitor the temps but never have a change of more than 2 degrees but I know an UTH is a better option for belly heat which is what they need more than ambient heat. My question is, would it be worth it to use an UTH pad with a dimmer switch that I manually monitor or just keep what I have? Our house temp only fluctuates about 3 degrees all day so that's less of a concern.

Opinions please?

[jclaiborne]

You could spend 20-30 bucks and get a zoo med or hydrofarm TStat so you wont have to constantly monitor and adjust your dimmer.

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[RobertsKitty]

I was told those were prone to overheating and causing fires

[KMG]

I would stay with the heat lamp. Cheap tstats are just that CHEAP! If the cheap tstat was to fail the vet bill will be much more than a Herpstat. Using either a dimmer or a cheap tstat I would be constantly checking them. I would honestly rather a dimmer than a cheap tstat. I've had two cheap tstats and both failed. My 4 Herpstats have never had an issue.

Stick with the lamp and make sure to keep an extra bulb or two for those cold rainy nights they like to burn out on.

[Pythonfriend]

if your house temperatures are constant enough, you could set it up with a dimmer.

a dimmer limits the energy-output, so that the UTH, if it runs 24/7, only heats to a level of something like "5 degrees above room temperature" or "10 degrees above room temperature". you need to do test runs and find just the right setting for the dimmer, and it all hinges on the ambient room temperature being constant.

i would not recommend cheap thermostats, they sometimes fail, and when they fail, they can fail in a bad way, so that the UTH runs at 100% and your snake gets burned. good thermostats fail less often, but more importantly, they are designed to fail into the off-state. so when they break, they dont burn your pet, they just switch off.

so a dimmer (set up correctly and with constant room temperature) may be safer than a bad quality thermostat.

i guess in your situation i would go for UTH + dimmer first, and later, when the budget allows it, replace the dimmer with a good thermostat. how is the humidity? heat lamps are quite notorious for ruining humidity, if you have issues with that, a switch to an UTH might allow you to get rid of the heat lamp.

[jclaiborne]

While they are cheap and I agree with KMG a vet bill is more than an expensive TSTAT i keep "cheap" ones as a backup for temp enclosures and havent had any issues with them...I will say i do check my reptiles twice a day at least just because. Maybe I havent had any issues because they arent in constant use either...

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[greco]

I've used a lamp dimmer, a heat pad and a cheap digital thermometer with a probe (I found one at Walmart for $12) for quarantining and temporary housing for unplanned snakes, like the time when my neighbor brought me an "albino boa" (turned out to be a big female snow corn) he found roaming around in his yard...

I wouldn't recommend it in the long term but it'll work in a pinch until you can upgrade your setup.

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[RobertsKitty]

The humidity is definitely difficult to keep up which is why I was wanting an UTH. I already check the temps when I walk by the tank (habit) so checking it frequently isn't really a problem. Right now my T8 is about to be divided so I can do some testing on the unoccupied side while my new ball is in quarantine.

Does anyone have recommendations on an UTH pad that is relatively cheap (preferably no more than 40ish) that would work well for a divided T8? What size pad am I after?

[CORBIN911]

The humidity is definitely difficult to keep up which is why I was wanting an UTH. I already check the temps when I walk by the tank (habit) so checking it frequently isn't really a problem. Right now my T8 is about to be divided so I can do some testing on the unoccupied side while my new ball is in quarantine.

Does anyone have recommendations on an UTH pad that is relatively cheap (preferably no more than 40ish) that would work well for a divided T8? What size pad am I after?

Forget heat pad, and this idea for now, And try to put 10$ a week away. (what you have now is ok! and if its worked dont fix what isn't broken, yes humidity is a pain but spraying 1-2 times a day is less worrysum then making sure temps rnt cooking snake) Dimmers have NO failsafes. and you cant look past that, when a mistake happens nothing is there to stop it if your not there, It takes less then an hour for a heat pad to get to its hottest point, and if your not there with a heat gun checking you'd never know? There's no noise/lights/dings to tell you.

But as i said try to save 10$ a day, And spend some time on your local reptile forum with classified section(over here in Canada its reptilescanada.com) Im sure in US you have something similar. On there you may be able to find Local breeders who are getting ride of herpstats or VE electronics thermostats!

You can usually pick some of them up for 80$ or less! With that look for or ask them for a Sheet of THG/Flexxwatt heat tape (12inch) and you can use 6inchs each side (for 2 snakes) or get 6inch and put it on the hot end. It is much cheaper then store bought heats pads (4-5$ vs $40.99) aswell much more stable and reliable.


You should never look for the cheap easy way for a pet, as mistakes DO happen and when they happen they arn't cheap. So best way to avoid any errors is do what your doing for now, and try to put 10$ a day in a piggy bank and in a couple weeks you can find yourself a new/used thermostat and heat tape =)

[MarkS]

I've used dimmer switches on UTH's for decades with no problems. I've had more Thermostats go bad on me than rheostats. I hate heat lamps for heat for ball pythons because they dry out the air so much so I definately recommend a UTH. I prefer using thermostats myself but as long as you check the temps regularily dimmer switches are a prefectly acceptable alternative.


Personally, I prefer the Ultratherm heat pads for use in a single cage application (IE: not a rack) the heat pad should cover around 1/4 to 1/3 of the bottom of the cage so that you have a gradient from warmer to cooler. Here is an example of the type of heat pad I prefer. http://www.reptilebasics.com/ultrath...ater-uth-6-x11