Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've got my first snake coming next week, and have all the essentials ready. Except a thermostat. I was planning on just keeping an eye on the temps and using a rheostat while I researched what thermostat to buy. But the temperature here in Northern Virginia has been fluctuating quite a bit lately(75-90F in the past week or so).

Everything I've read says that the cheap on/off kind are to be avoided, and to be honest I don't need to go cheap. However the only proportional ones I have come across are over $100 and meant for large 500 watt setups. I will only have a single corn snake. I'm thinking of MAYBE getting another snake in a year or two when I am more confident in caring for them.

~$130 won't break the bank, but if there is something more suitable for me I'd rather go with that. Any advice? Thanks.

What are you housing it in and what are you using for heat? For one corn snake, I would not invest in a thermostat of any kind. A simple glass aquarium with a dome fixture on one side would be fine. As long as a good thermal gradient is provided, it will regulate itself.

Bart

Right now I have a 10 gallon tank and an UTH. I plan on making my own enclosure or if I feel lazy atleast a 40 gallon when it is an adult.

By UTH I am assuming it is a standard adhesive pads you get from most pet stores. From my experience, those do not get warm enough to require a thermostat. Now if you were using flexwatt for a UTH, then you would need a t-stat, but again, thats way more money than you need to spend for a setup like you have.

What you have is fine for one corn snake. Just make sure the UTH only covers about 1/4 - 1/3 of the floor space. They do not require a great deal of room so you could even use something smaller than a 40g when it is older, although if it is a single pet and you have the room, why not spoil it.

Generally, t-stats are used with heating devices that require some type of controller (i.e., flexwattt, heat rope, heat panel) and not with the basic heat pads found in retail stores. If you want the added control, go with a rheostat but do not buy that from a pet store. Go to the lighting section in Lowes and pick up one of those specialty dimmer switches for $10 or less. This is essentially all a rheostat is. I love proportional t-stats and feel most collectors can't have enough but for one snake it is a waste of money.

Good luck,
Bart

Thats good to know. Now, do you have any recommendations on a good thermometer? My pet store only has the flat stick on kind, and dial kind. Neither seem like something I can stick into the substrate to get a proper reading.

Thanks!

For your purpose, I would use a temp gun and just take periodic readings. I would not worry with something that needs mounted. Shoot me an email if you like and I can suggest a couple. If I posted them here, I would be advertising. I can't tell you how many threads I have seen "disappear" because it essentially became a classified ad.

Bart
bsharrah@mindspring.com

I agree with "bsharrah," as long as the snake isn't going to be kept in an uncontrolled environment, like a shed or something.

Corn snakes deal with average temperature fluctuations quite well and have a broad operating temperature range.

No need for a thermostat with a UTH.

I use a digital thermometer that I got from Wal-Mart. In fact, I've got several of them & love 'em. For aprox. $10 it's an Indoor/Outdoor digital thermometer with about a 6ft wire probe. It measures humidity, too. Records Hi/Low of inside & outside temps & hi/low humidity. Can't beat it!

I usually tape the main unit to the inside of the glass, close to ground level & tape the outside probe to the other side of the cage. All you've got to do is walk over & read it thru the glass. If temps are a tad low, put you a 40-watt household bulb in a dome fixture & set it on top, over the UTH side.

If your house stays pretty cool in the winter you can get a dimmer switch like "bsharrah" said, put it on the dome lamp's cord & put a 100-watt bulb in. Then you can simply adjust it's output to achieve the desired temps. Easy & cheap as pie!

Have a good one!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

Having used a bunch of UTHs, I would NOT use one without a thermostat, or dimmer.
Some I have had running full power, have curled, losing contact with the cage. And some of the bigger ones, even with a thermostat had left burn marks on the wood under the cage, even with the cages nearly an inch off the surface. Rather large burn marks I will add. I would never had known this was happening if I hadn't sld a snake, cage and all. When I moved the cage to be sold, the burn marks were there. Scared the you know what out of me seeing a burn mark that size.
My experience is with only one particular brand of UTH, and the ones leaving the burn marks were the largest size this company makes.
I wont post the brand name here, but if anyone is interested, shoot me a message.
Use a thermostat, or rheostat...better safe than sorry.

I would agree with you if we were talking about wood cages. I was referring to the standard pads found in most pet stores, to be used only with glass aquariums. I wouldn't use UTH's with wooden cages even with a thermostat.

Bart

I was using the largest pad available from a certain manufacturer, on a 75gal glass aquarium on a wooden topped stand.
The heat under the pad was so intense, even with a thermostat, it scorched the wood deeply, which was a sheet of 3/4" oak plywood.

Ahhh. I see what you mean. Thanks for clarifying. Some manufacturer's of these pads include bumpers to lift the tank up a bit for ventilation. I highly suggest using these or something like them that allows air circulation under the tank which "should" prevent this. A rheostat/dimmer for these is recommended but I would definitely not waste my money on a t-stat.

Bart

You make a good case for using a thermostat and/or rheostat with UTHs.

Where I goofed in my first reply was assuming everyone sets their cage up like I do, without making it clear as to how I feel it should be setup. HUGE mistake on my part.

I never have liked UTHs, even though I've used them. In fact, I'm using one right now for baby burms, but I still don't like it.

I've got the UTH on the bottom of an aquarium and have the little pads that came with the UTH on the bottom corners of the aquarium. I've got a piece of 1/4in. ceramic tile on the aquarium floor, covering a slightly larger area than the UTH covers. The surface temp of the tile averages 90 degrees (F).

I'm using the next size up from the smallest pad available and there's not any scorching of the wood surface underneath the tank. That's not to say that another pad the same size or larger wouldn't scorch it, though. In my case, there's about 1/2in. of air space between the bottom of the UTH & the surface the tank sits on.

In all honesty, to be perfectly safe, I have to recant my first post and agree with you, burmaboy. Tis better to be safe than sorry. Oh well, I'm human. This is the first mistake I've ever made in my 46 yrs of life on earth. Yeah, right! Hahaha!!!

Ya'll have a great day!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

The proportional thermostats are rated to handle heavy loads, but I'd personally never do that. I run one per cage, which for my adult boas means 20 watts of flexwatt.
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http://www.GilbertBoas.com/
http://www.BoaList.com/

Proportional controllers are not "meant" for large electrical loads. Some are rated for 500 watts meaning do not exceed that. They can handle a single heat pad if desired.

Having a heater on a small cage like a 10 gal with no controller is risky to the poor snake inside if the weather gets warm. Use at least a dimmer.

Those cheap ON/OFF thermostats are best suited to environments where temp changes are slow. On a heat pad, the controller would be going on and off all day long very frequently, and they use a very inexpensive relay to switch power, not a solid state device. So they good for an overtemp limit, but not to control to a tight range.

A dimmer is your least expensive and easiest choice of controller. And when you are ready to get serious, a proportional controller is what you want for heat pads and heat tape and other direct-surface-contact heaters (also good for ceramic heat emitters, etc).
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Mark

Thanks for all the advice guys. I just got back from home depot with a dimmer. I'm pretty sure I will invest in a proportional thermostat sooner rather than later. My baby arrives tomorrow morning, yay

Quick question. Should I put the heat pad all the way over to one side, or set it off from the end an inch or two? The pad is 6 inches wide and the tank (10 gallon) is 20 inches long. I can't really undo it once I stick it on, heh. Thanks again!

I use those smaller ones on a a 10gal tank about an inch or two in from the side just as you metioned.
It's not a bad idea to invest in a temp gun. These can be had inexpensively.

Sweet, thanks. Where could I find a temp gun for a decent price localy? I've got just about every store in existance nearby. I'm sure one of them has them!

Temp guns are invaluable! I got mine for $25 at Pro-Exotic's website, and it works far better than any thermometer because you can measure the bedding, the snake, etc without disturbing the animal at all.

I believe their website is tempguns.com. Look on the classifieds here if tempguns.com doesn't work.
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Mark