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Soon to be Corn owner

I am not familiar with that product, but usually any product you can buy as a regular good, that can be used for reptile care, ends up eventueally being produced by a reptile brand, put on a reptile label and you can aks a couple of times the regular price :p

I use something like this;

dimmer.jpg


Add a thermometer and you are done for a dollar and a dime so to speak!
Over here I don't get the cheapest type, just the next level price wise. The cheapest stop working quite soon quite often.
 
Wait, so is what I have considered a rheostat? I have a lamp dimmer...is that good enough, or should I go with something else in your opinion blutengel?
 
Irishmiddie22 said:
Wait, so is what I have considered a rheostat? I have a lamp dimmer...is that good enough, or should I go with something else in your opinion blutengel?
Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with using a dimmer. I used them for about a year, but now that I have 6 snakes it's a little hard to manage, and I just ordered a thermostat with my snake rack.

With the dimmer you need to adjust the temperature manually, this is called a usually what they refer to as a "rheostat". So if your room temperature is 75F and the warm spot is 85F, but the room temperature goes up to 80F, the dimmer won't react to the temperature change and the warm spot will get hotter as a result. You just have to keep an eye on it. By now, I know instinctively just where to place the slider to get the right temperatures!

A thermostat, on the other hand, will do all of the adjustments for you. An on/off thermostat will turn off the heating pad when it gets to the target temperature, then turn it on again when it falls below the target. This can result in some minor fluctuations. A proportional thermostat controls the output of the heating pad, giving a more steady temperature as a result. The higher end thermostats also have built in devices that will turn off the heating pad entirely if it gets too hot, like due to some sort of failure.

It really depends on what you want to use and your own situation. Even with a thermostat I will still check the temps all the time. I don't know if anyone linked it already but a good starting thermostat is Alife On/Off Thermostat if you want to/if you decide to switch!
 
Thanks Miqote!!! So you just set the thermostat to the temperature you want, and it'll regulate the heat pad to make it that temperature?
 
Irishmiddie22 said:
Thanks Miqote!!! So you just set the thermostat to the temperature you want, and it'll regulate the heat pad to make it that temperature?
Click to expand...

Exactly!! For example, if you set an on/off thermostat for 85F, when the pad gets to 85F, it will turn off the pad, and then when it falls lower, it will turn the pad back on. With a proportional thermostat, it's kind of like it has the dimmer installed, and it adjusts the output of the device, turning it down or up to maintain the correct temperature.
 
Earlier in the thread, someone said that rheostats were safer because if they shut off, the heat pad goes off, but if the thermostat goes off, it will turn the heat pad all the way on and could burn your snake...what do you do to ensure that doesn't happen, or do you just hope and pray it doesn't turn off? :)
 
I think what you mean is if the rheostat FAILS the UTH turns off, but if the thermostat fails the UTH goes way up. blutengel mentioned that earlier
 
i know it just seemed a little unclear. not meaning to sound mean or anything...you said when it shuts off, and that could mean a couple things. im just clarifying :) didnt mean any disrespect
 
Irishmiddie22 said:
Earlier in the thread, someone said that rheostats were safer because if they shut off, the heat pad goes off, but if the thermostat goes off, it will turn the heat pad all the way on and could burn your snake...what do you do to ensure that doesn't happen, or do you just hope and pray it doesn't turn off? :)
Click to expand...

Well, to be safe I've heard a lot of people will use something like UTH >> Thermostat >> Dimmer, or UTH >> Thermostat >> Thermostat, so if 1 thermostat fails, you have a backup, you just set the dimmer to a low temperature so if the thermostat fails the dimmer will control the output. The Herpstat ND has some kind of built in error detection so if the sensor fails or is disconnected it will turn off (that's the one I'm getting, per Nanci's suggestion). I think the higher end Helix thermostats may have this also.
 
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