I think I went overboard on my RHP

[treaux]

Really, do yourself a favor and get a Herpstat. With the money you have spent on cages and RHPs so far, don't cheap out on the most important part. The cheapest Herpstat that can be had is the intro or intro+, which are $100 and $110 respectively. I'd recommend the + as it has a hardware safety relay in case something goes wrong. I got mine from GLK herp which offers free shipping (http://www.glkherp.com/).

Being able to set the temp and know that it will be actively monitored is completely worth it, especially if you have a cold room.

[anthroterra]

Where is your probe? That info is critical. I have 2 AP cages- 1 with a 40 watt and 1 with an 80- and both are heating perfectly (when hooked up to herpstat) despite being 36 inches long rather than your 48. My probe is under the newspaper on the floor of the enclosure. If my probe was nearer the heat panel, it would read far too high but be perfect for the BP on the ground. You could also use a heat gun or digital thermometer in different areas of the cage to get a feel for what's really going on. I use a jumpstart with ultratherms for my corn cages, and they do go above the temps I set them at but not by much.

[Gio]

Really, do yourself a favor and get a Herpstat. With the money you have spent on cages and RHPs so far, don't cheap out on the most important part. The cheapest Herpstat that can be had is the intro or intro+, which are $100 and $110 respectively. I'd recommend the + as it has a hardware safety relay in case something goes wrong. I got mine from GLK herp which offers free shipping (http://www.glkherp.com/).

Being able to set the temp and know that it will be actively monitored is completely worth it, especially if you have a cold room.

Exactly, and well said!

Here's the deal.

You can have the largest most powerful RHP manufactured and if you have it hooked into a quality Herpstat or VE Electronics stat, it will only use the amount of power necessary to get the cage to the set temp.

With a Herpstat you can even see the amount of power being used. It displays the "Set Temp" and also displays the percentage of power the unit is putting out to power the heating device.

In reality, the smaller the light, RHP or UTH, the harder those smaller items have to work to get the proper heat level depending on cage size. Would you rather have a small heat panel blasting at 100% of it's capability all of the time to keep the temps where you want them, or a larger panel only working at 20% of its capability to heat things most of the time?

If your heat panel is oversized which is possible, it still isn't a problem because the right stat will only allow it to use the power necessary to get to the desired temp.

http://www.spyderrobotics.com

http://www.vivariumelectronics.com/Products.html

[Snizards]

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.

I have 5 of these. They work well. You set the temperature to your desired maximum (I put mine at 90-91 for Ball Python's) and it will shut itself off once it reaches 91 degrees, then vary between 88-91, turning itself on again and off again to keep appropriate temps. Herpstat works differently because it is able to keep the constant temperature. Eventually I will upgrade to herpstat, but for temporary use Jumpstart is great. All of my animals are happy and healthy. Also, I was having issues with my house being cold as well. I have all my reptiles in one room so I opted for a space heater, maybe that would help to up your ambient temps. Or you can always sell your 80w RHP and buy a smaller one.

Edit: I agree with treaux, if you have your set up all decked out you may as well go for the Herpstat. I really wish I had got one to begin with, just because they are more accurate and known to last waaaayyy longer.

[shade-ilmaendu]

I got the jumpstart for now and it's working like a dream. Got it set to 86 right now and his temps have been nice and consistent, shuts off around 88 and back on as needed. I will eventually upgrade to the herpstat but for now this is working beautifully. Yesterday was a good day for him... got his temps nice and stable once more and he got his weaned rats in so he's once again on appropriate sized prey (seriously when will he stop outgrowing them so quickly ) and will hopefully stop nipping me now. X3 I missed the ship date for last week and had to wait and apparently he was very cross with me/hoped my hand would be tasty...

And for the other questions I do have his probes (both the thermometers and the thermostat now) on the ground, though I'm trying to keep the thermostat purposefully off the UTH so it's reading the ambient temps for better accuracy. With this setup now I am happy to have the 80w, I imagine that's gonna be keeping the overall temp of the RHP lower since it won't have to work as hard, not that he's gotten too investigative of it for me to truly worry it would hurt him. I know when I ran it on it's own it got pretty toasty. It takes up about half the damn enclosure and I was a little worried the gradient would be off but since putting it on the thermostat last night it's been perfect.

Now I just need to drill some nicer holes for the probes and I will be a very satisfied snake mom.

[Dev_DeCoste]

Question for the group,

Where do you set up the probe for RHP? I've been following along this post and you've all provided excellent insights. I've been saving to upgrade to the Herpstat 4 up from my vivarium electronics since I need 3 inputs (one for UTH heat tape and one for each RHP) as I have a T8 with a divider for 2 BPs and want to put an RHP on each side. There is a spot for the probe under the T8 so you can set up your UTH easily with a thermostat but where to put the probe to actively control RHP power is what I am trying to figure out.

Thanks for any and all help!

[BPGator]

Question for the group,

Where do you set up the probe for RHP? I've been following along this post and you've all provided excellent insights. I've been saving to upgrade to the Herpstat 4 up from my vivarium electronics since I need 3 inputs (one for UTH heat tape and one for each RHP) as I have a T8 with a divider for 2 BPs and want to put an RHP on each side. There is a spot for the probe under the T8 so you can set up your UTH easily with a thermostat but where to put the probe to actively control RHP power is what I am trying to figure out.

Thanks for any and all help!

You should start a new thread


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[Prognathodon]

Drill a hole in the back- or side-wall just big enough for the probe to come through, and let it hang in the air. Secure on the outside of the enclosure (not over the hole, with a piece of duct tape. In a T8 I'd put it about halfway top bottom, and sticking 2-4 inches in, so it's under the RHP.


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