Thermostat / Heating Questions

[Loderdek]

Hello everyone I'm working on designing and building my terrariums before we purchase our corn's. I'm a DIY but I don't have a lot of experience working with woods. I found a great step by step viv by blueapplepaste and am doing some modifications to fit my needs. I'm planing on doing a 3 tall with probably a stand to raise it a bit off the ground and toss some casters on it.

Anyways on point the enclosure will be 12" wide 36" wide 14" tall each (inside dimensions) I have been looking at the different options as far as heating goes and this looks I'll probably go with flexwatt 11" by 1 foot at one end of the enclosure. Any other suggestions?

Because it(flexwatt) can get so hot and could conduct electricity I plan to seal a piece of plexi or tempered glass on top of it. Is this advisable? Which of the two would conduct the heat better?

As far as thermostat which is the best? Is proportional actually needed when they have a range for the temps? What about a bang for the buck thermostat?

I hear of people using one of the more advanced thermostat's and using it to regulate more than 1 enclosure, do these have more than 1 thermometer probe? Or is it that if the cages are the same we just hope all 3 keep the same temp..?

Thanks for the help ahead of time!

- Josh

 

[mele2511]

I would put ether a piece of plexi glass over the flexiwatt. As far as the thermostat goes i would go for a Habistat 600W dimmer stat. Plug that in and put the probe in one of the tanks then just add the other UTH to the system.

 

[Blue Apple Herps]

Anyways on point the enclosure will be 12" wide 36" wide 14" tall each (inside dimensions) I have been looking at the different options as far as heating goes and this looks I'll probably go with flexwatt 11" by 1 foot at one end of the enclosure. Any other suggestions?

This is exactly what I used: one piece of 11" flexwatt. Works great.

Because it(flexwatt) can get so hot and could conduct electricity I plan to seal a piece of plexi or tempered glass on top of it. Is this advisable? Which of the two would conduct the heat better?

I personally used plexiglass. Mainly because it's relatively easy to cut and trim plexiglass to get a good fit. If the glass is off in size at all, then there's not much you can do.

As far as thermostat which is the best? Is proportional actually needed when they have a range for the temps? What about a bang for the buck thermostat?

I proportional is the best, but you can get by w/o one. The Zoomed 500R is an ok one. I used it for several years w/o any problems. Only recently have I upgraded to a Herpstat. The 500R did its job just fine, but if I could do it over, I would have just gotten the Herpstat. You can't beat an awesome thermostat.

I hear of people using one of the more advanced thermostat's and using it to regulate more than 1 enclosure, do these have more than 1 thermometer probe? Or is it that if the cages are the same we just hope all 3 keep the same temp..?

Yes, some can regulate more than one heating element and will have multiple probes that are all controlled independently. However, the the enclosures are more or less identical and have the same heating element, then one probe/thermostat can control all the enclosures.

So in your case, you could wire up the flexwatt in parallel or have them wired separately and plug all the flexwatt into a strip outlet and then plug that into the t-stat and that would run the heat for all three cages off one probe.

You wouldn't want to control heat for, lets say a rack and a viv off one probe/t-stat, because even if they both had the same size flexwatt, the input required to get to a specific temperature is going to be different because of the differences in size/shape/etc of the enclosures. I hope this makes sense.

If there's anything else, don't hesitate to ask! Oh and welcome to CS! :cheers:

 

[Loderdek]

Alright thanks for all the info.

As far as the thermostat I see two recommended but have pulled up the most information on the helix vs the herpstat, which of these two is best for this application? (actual use of both prefered, but any opinion welcome)

If I was to run the 3 off 1 probe and wire them in circuit I could use the other 2 for other cages correct? (I plan to probably build and hose BP's have a while of having the corn snakes.

I don't really need to wory about the sizes as I have a glass company about 5 miles from me that we work with at my place of employment and can always take it back if they mess up =) So it really has come down to which is going to which will conduct the best heat.

Also for the the doors I'm going to be trying to do sliding doors but which will hold the heat better, tempered glass or plexi?

Thanks

- Josh

 

[Blue Apple Herps]

As far as the thermostat I see two recommended but have pulled up the most information on the helix vs the herpstat, which of these two is best for this application? (actual use of both prefered, but any opinion welcome)

I only personally have experience with the Herpstat. I have heard of others having problems with the Helix. But I love my Herpstat and recommend it 100%.

If I was to run the 3 off 1 probe and wire them in circuit I could use the other 2 for other cages correct? (I plan to probably build and hose BP's have a while of having the corn snakes.

Correct, assuming you get a thermostat that can run more than one element independently. The base Helix and Herpstat can only control one source. The Herpstat Pro can run 4 elements independently; this is what I have. I currently use it to control bps and corns. So you can definitely run different types if you have the right thermostat.

I don't really need to wory about the sizes as I have a glass company about 5 miles from me that we work with at my place of employment and can always take it back if they mess up =) So it really has come down to which is going to which will conduct the best heat.

Then it's personal preference. I might worry about edges of the glass possibly being sharp enough to cut the snake. But if you made sure they weren't shouldn't be a problem.

Also for the the doors I'm going to be trying to do sliding doors but which will hold the heat better, tempered glass or plexi?

For sliding doors, I would go with glass. But again, it's personal preference. I really like acrylic/plexiglass/etc mainly because I can work with it to get it 100% to what I need.

 

[Loderdek]

Thanks for all your replies Matt.

With the Herpstat or Helix can the different probes be set independently (at diff temps)? Such as 1 line/probe control 2 flexwatt's for 2 different enclosures for corn snakes and another probe/line control 2 flexwatts for 2 bp's?

Also as far as dimensions for corns what is the best for them? not worried about easy to use/materials/space requirements? is 12" tall x 36" long x 12" deep? would adjusting it overall to 18" deep be detrimental to their health (feeling unsafe)? I can always build them to the 12" deep and just have the bp's with the 18"

Since a lot of you keep bp's as well what are the optimum dimensions for them? From what I've read elsewhere 12" tall x 36" long x 18" deep. Or would they do better with something bigger?

Yet another question Heating for the bp's, information states they need a basking spot around 90 and it looks like ambient temp around 85. Is this basically the same temp gradient just at a different temp? So set the flexwatt to 90?

I've decided for the doors to just go with a drop down door with tempered glass and just frame it in the door. (Rounded edges from the outside for looks) Decided to go with the hinged door for more access to the tank and for a cleaner over all look.

 

[MegF.]

A cornsnake doesn't need a proportional thermostat. They aren't that sensitive to temperature differences. I use Herpstat proportional thermostats on my arboreals. I use regular on/off thermostats for the cornsnakes. Big Apple pet supply just came out with a new one that you can plug 3 units into. You can find it here:http://www.bigappleherp.com/BAH-1000-Thermostat
I used their old model for my corns. I place the probe in the middle cage of stacked cages and use that to regulate the others. In the middle will be an average temperature. Works fine. I have melamine custom built cages for both my arboreals and corns. They stack nicely and look very clean. Here's a picture of the arboreals cages. I don't have the corns cages set up yet as they are not quite done. They will be stacked 4 high instead of 3 since they are shorter in height than the arboreal cages.

 

[Nanci]

Cornsnakes may not _need_ proportional thermostats, but they sure are nice! You can keep the temp within about one degree, vs a maybe 5-10 degree swing with an on/off. Big Apple probably makes the best on/off- I still have one of their old ones in use, and am happy with it. Everything else is on a Herpstat. AFAIK, all thermostats have multiple plugins, but only one probe, so your vivs need to be similar.

 

[MegF.]

The thing is, I have to have the proportional for the arboreals. Running 14 cages with 6 Herpstats. I can buy 3 of the Big Apple thermostats for what it costs for one Herpstat. There is a new herpstat pro out there that runs three cages, with 3 seperate probes. It costs about $200 though. I'll continue with the Big Apple heaters for the less sensitive snakes. It would cost me a fortune to buy the Herpstats for another 12 cages. The temperatures in SC fluxuate more than 5 degrees I can tell you that, so the Big Apple thermostat will work just fine!

 

[Joejr14]

The thing is, I have to have the proportional for the arboreals. Running 14 cages with 6 Herpstats. I can buy 3 of the Big Apple thermostats for what it costs for one Herpstat. There is a new herpstat pro out there that runs three cages, with 3 seperate probes. It costs about $200 though. I'll continue with the Big Apple heaters for the less sensitive snakes. It would cost me a fortune to buy the Herpstats for another 12 cages. The temperatures in SC fluxuate more than 5 degrees I can tell you that, so the Big Apple thermostat will work just fine!

Well that's why most breeders, even on the small size, use rack systems. If I can build a rack that will hold 16-20 adults what's the big deal spending $200 on a thermostat that can effectively and accurately control TWO of those racks to within a tenth of a degree? I'd say shelling out $200 for 40 adults come out pretty cheap---and for $5 a snake I'd rather make sure they're getting the correct temps that I want---not a 5 or 10 degree swing.

 

[MegF.]

Yeah, but chondros and ammys are very cool display snakes and I like to really see them. The racks are reserved for babies. I enjoy watching my snakes move around in naturalistic cages. More space makes for more active animals. Arboreals need space to breed as well. You keep pairs together for months during breeding season and the size tub you'd need would take up a lot of rack space. I house mine in 36X24X24 cages.

 

[Blue Apple Herps]

Thanks for all your replies Matt.

With the Herpstat or Helix can the different probes be set independently (at diff temps)? Such as 1 line/probe control 2 flexwatt's for 2 different enclosures for corn snakes and another probe/line control 2 flexwatts for 2 bp's?

If you get one that has two separate probes then they can be run independently. I don't think Helix makes such a model. I know Herpstat makes ones that will run 1, 2, or 4 elements independently. I have the Herpstat Pro, which runs 4. It's great because I have one on corn racks, one on bp racks, one for corn incubator, and one for bp incubator. So its perfect for me.

[/quote]Also as far as dimensions for corns what is the best for them? not worried about easy to use/materials/space requirements? is 12" tall x 36" long x 12" deep? would adjusting it overall to 18" deep be detrimental to their health (feeling unsafe)? I can always build them to the 12" deep and just have the bp's with the 18"[/quote]

Up to you. Bps would be best in 36x18, but corns 36x18 or 35x12 would both be fine. Might be easier to go 36x18 so that you can just make a ton of identical cages and not have to worry about two sets of measurements. But it's up to you; they'll be happy in either size.

Yet another question Heating for the bp's, information states they need a basking spot around 90 and it looks like ambient temp around 85. Is this basically the same temp gradient just at a different temp? So set the flexwatt to 90?

I have my bps at 92 on the warm and then the cool is around 85ish. Check out www.ball-pythons.net for a good forum for bp info.

I've decided for the doors to just go with a drop down door with tempered glass and just frame it in the door. (Rounded edges from the outside for looks) Decided to go with the hinged door for more access to the tank and for a cleaner over all look.

Good decision; this is why I do the "flip down" so I can have access to all the tank at a time.