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Heating, Thermostats, and all that other confusing stuff :S

raynefyre

Taste the Rainbow
Okay, so I'm trying to figure out all this heating stuff...

I current have my babies in shoebox size tubs but they are getting big enough to where I want to upgrade their cages. I have a 15g and a 10g and a 30g (which I know is way to big atm).

Their shoeboxes are over an UTH which is decently regulated. But after much research, I wanted something that is more reliable and affordable as opposed to buying another nit-picky UTH. Using flexwatt is what I'm leaning towards, but I'm getting confused as to how to create the setup. What kind of regulator can I use? Can a thermostat from walmart do the trick or do I need something more for reptiles?

Any advice, diagrams of how to set it up (sorry I'm a visual learner), or links to proper supplies would really help. Thanks to all who read this and are willing to help out a stupid newbie.
 
Ideally, you need a thermostat designed to work with a UTH. Hopefully someone can provide links to recommended US online suppliers (I'm in the UK).
 
First a thermostat from Walmart will not work.

Looks like to me you will have three different heating cages so you will need three different heating controls. The cheapest would be to buy three rheostats at Walmart. A rheostat is nothing more than a light dimmer and you can buy them already made at Walmart. The ones I am talking about look like an extension cord with a controller in the middle.

You will need some thing to read temperature in the cages. So you can set the rheostats up properly.

Fatman
 
If you use flexwatt for the tubs, you only need one thermostat. I have one thermostat regulating 4 strips of heat tape in my hatchling rack. There are 13 tubs in there.

I use a Ranco thermostat and also have a Herpstat proportional thermostat. If you are looking for a decent priced thermostat, I would go with a ranco or a BAH (bigappleherps.com)
 
Check out this site on how to wire flexwatt:

http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/flexwire.shtml

I would upgrade them into a larger tub, as a couple of your tanks seem a little big for babies. Unless you divide the tank up, that is. I used to have a 20L and 30L that I separated for two snakes. I cut up a piece of cardboard and siliconed it to the middle of the tank so I could house two corns in each. It worked great!
 
My corns are about 18" long (maybe more.. they don't like to hold still) and they are in 72oz ziploc containers (which I think are 4.5"x7"x2"). Hope this helps.
 
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