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Equipment brand recommendations/reviews

C

Cyntax

New member
Hello,

I'm planning on pickup up some starter supplies tonight for the corn snake i'm picking up this weekend.

I'll be getting just a regular 20gallon fish tank and picking up a UTH, thermometer, thermostat,hides, and bedding.

My question to you guys is, have you had any bad experences with certain brands of UTH, thermometers, or thermostats? Are there any brands that are better then others? Anything specific I should be looking for?

I'm actually kinda surprised that there arn't many equipment reviews available anywhere on the net for this stuff. After quickly checking some pet stores, even thier supplies are very limited. My other hobby is keeping a salt water reef tank, and there are endless reviews, options, nitpicking on ever possible piece of equipment you could think of.
 
I have a Zoo Med UTH that seems to work pretty well. It has not come off the bottom of the tank as yet. I have the cheaper stick on the wall thermometer for general tank temps. The only thing I might suggest is that you buy a reptile tank instead of the fish tank. Reptile tanks have lower sides, giving more footage to the crawl area instead of the height. They also have lids that secure so that your new snake doesn't go off on an unexpected trip without your permission!
 
thermostats

I just ordered a thermostat from Big Apple herp, folks were giving it good reviews. It has an automatic cut off, so that if the thermostat fails, and it overheats, it will shut off. Wasn't expensive at all, either.
 
WingedWolf,
Did you get the ESU reptile temperature controller? If so, then it's a good one. I have several, and I really like them. This particular thermostat cuts the heat strip off when it gets too hot, then it cuts it back on when it gets too cold.

One of these days, I am going to be able to afford the helix thermostats, though!
 
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Helix is really the top of the mountain for temp control. I'll suggest that if you plan on getting into herps that you invest in one of the little IR temp guns (~$40)

Terri, I'm surprised that with your collection you have just taken the plunge. Several of the ESUs cost the same as the helix.
 
CAV...

Where do I find Helix thermostats? And are they easy to wire?

I always thought that the Helix were a lot more expensive. I probably won't be able to switch to them within the next couple of months, but I am hoping to soon. I graduate in May. I hope we will be moving soon after that. My poor daughter's room is covered with snakes, and I want to be able to move them all out and into their own room! I'm sure my daughter gets tired of sharing her room with the snakes...even though she loves them. She really needs a space of her own!

P.S. - I even have a rack in one of our bathrooms! How crazy is that??? I think we've outgrown our house!
 
BAH thermostat

No, this thermostat is one that Big Apple Herp created themselves, I bought a BAH-1000.

ESU thermostats may be dangerous. I have seen complaints that the thermostat can fail in the on position, causing the heating element to stay on, and overheating and killing the animals--even melting down sweaterboxes in racks. A thermostat that has gotten multiple bad reviews like this one should be avoided. These folks invented an automatic cutoff that will work with any thermostat: http://www.snakeracks.com/tempbackup.htm
If you're just using an inexpensive thermostat that was under 50 bucks, though, you're better off just buying one that has a shutoff included.
If you're using an ESU thermostat, beware--this thermostat can and has failed, overheating and killing animals. It may have been all right so far, but what about tomorrow? I would seriously recommend either putting in a failsafe, or buying a new thermostat that has one included.

The Big Apple thermostat has a SEPERATE cutoff, designed to prevent this from happening by automatically turning off the power if the temperature reaches 110 degrees. If the thermostat should break, and fail to shut off the heating device when it exceeds the temperature you want, then this backup will kick in to shut the power off completely at 110 degrees. Your animals may be cool for a while until you check on them again, but they'll be alive.
I looked over all the reviews, and things people had to say about various thermostats, before selecting this one. People are comparing the more expensive (hundred dollar) BAH thermostats to Helix systems in their accuracy and reliability, and range of features. They ARE new, but so far no one has had a single bad thing to say about them--that's why I selected it for my rack.
 
Had a problem with a small Fluker's UTH - see Spitfire's post about adhesive UTHs.
Helix can be bought at The Bean Farm and a few other online vendors. Another source for digital proportional thermostats is GCS Reptiles . They are new to the market and more expensive but have more built in features than the Helix.
The BAH-1000 looks EXACTLY like an Alife thermostat (different label) for a similar price. Makes you wonder. The Alife doesn't advertise a failsafe so probably doesn't have one. Would be interesting to compare their guts.
WingedWolf - can you recommend links to other sites that have good forums or reviews about caging and other herp related equiptment? I like Bob Clark forums although his site focuses on large constrictors. KS has a pretty good caging forum as well. Just getting started with my collection and don't want to waste any more money on junk.
 
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