Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is there something that will help bring a heat pad up to a certain temperature and keep it there? How do you guys keep your temps constant?

Thermostat

A rheostat or lamp dimmer works fine too, but you need to check your temps a few times a day to make sure it stays constant.

Thermostat here too.

A rheostat gives you a way to control the amount of heat added in general but doesn't allow for varying temps throughout the day. A thermostat will only power the heaters when needed, therefore if the room itself gets pretty warm in the afternoon the thermostat will kick in less heat, keeping your tank a bit more comfortable.

That being said, a rheostat is still a reasonable solution for most situations. I just like the added security of a thermostat. I use them in 3 of my 5 tanks so far. And a rheostat in the 4th. I'm looking to buy another thermostat for my 5th tank eventually.

One tricky thing about a thermostat is to make sure the temperature probe is firmly placed where it can sense the heat provided and can't be moved around by your leo. If the probe is moved then the temperature regulation goes out of whack. I rubber band mine to a rock and place the probe side down so that it rests against the tile on the warm side of the tank floor.

I monitor the temp gradient using two thermometers with their own probes and adjust the thermostat accordingly. I put the warm side thermometer probe together with the thermostat's probe attached to the same rock.

For some reason I was thinking a thermostat was just another type of thermometer. Where can I pick one of these puppies up?

I have one but it has a dial on it to control the temperature and thats about it and mine doesnt have a probe too, I thought that all it does was to control the temperature.

Allie
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Can you tell me what rhymes with moon,
And can be written on a page,
Or on a rock for age on age,
This ancient letter tell me soon!

I got mine from Petco for about $35

Here's the product page from their website.

http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?R=10890&Nav=1&N=0&Ntt=thermostat&sku=665134&familyID=14974&

You'll still need a thermometer to measure the temps as the thermostat just has a dial and a LED to show when it's turned on/off your heat mat or heat tape.

This one has a probe which allows you to measure the surface temperature of the substrate on the warm side of the tank (tile in my case). Without the probe you're measuring the ambient air temperature (assuming that your thermostat is located inside the tank).

I'm always afraid of burning my leos bellies with hot tile since it conducts heat fairly well. I find the ambient temps remain about right when the floor is at the proper temperature anyway. Without a probe on the floor, the floor temp can have greater excursions due to the heat convection lag between floor heat and ambient air temp. Probably not a huge issue but I prefer to be extra conservative on this matter.

Hope this helps!

N.F.