Hmm, I have some of those white slide dimmers. I'll have to try them out if they really can go lower than the crap ZooMed rheostats.

The only way I ever got a rheostat to work for me was to observe how long it took to heat to where I wanted it and turn it off, then see how long it took to cool before I had to turn it back on. Then I used those times and set a timer for it. Worked surprisingly well until I could get my first ZooMed t-stat.

And yeah, no pet store...not even the reptile special stores, sell the GOOD thermostats. Petsmart ONLINE sells the ZooMed, but it's much cheaper to get that one at ReptileSupply.com.
I find this to be strange and unfair...since the thermostat is actually an extremely important piece of eq! I suppose that it would be hard to retail sell something that involves work (i.e. it must be wired by the buyer or the seller) that you can't just sell straight from a package. Oh well...