Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can someone point me in the direction of a quality Tstat=== that ISN'T several hundred dollars.

There is one that has 4 probes, and I will likely get that one .... but i will be needing more than one.... and i'm not really liking the prices of these things...

anyone got any pointers?

Beth
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

Reptiles basics has Helix,and Johnsons Controls. With the four probe one if the T=stat fails so does what ever heat sourse it is hooked up to.
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Thanks and Take Care
Thomas Jones
sweetpetsshop2@yahoo.com

I really don't think they are that expensive. I will never buy any other t-stat other than a helix. They are $120 each and can run several vision racks with just one t-stat. So let's say you have 3 racks which = 30 tubs. In each one of those tubs you have snakes that average out to be worth $300 each, that's $9000 worth of snakes that you are betting your t-stat won't fail. I have never had a helix fail and replace them every 3 years just as a precaution. I will not gamble with a "cheaply" made t-stat because I don't want anything to happen to my animals and I definately don't want my house to burn down.
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Josh & Krysty Hutto
J&K Reptiles

Various Ball Pythons, boas, dogs, cats, fish, an amel tiger retic female, a couple sulcatas and a few other odds and ends.

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

You can get a Johnson or Ranco for between $50-$70 which isn't an arm and a leg - you can even get them double wired for back up for around $100. Your rack temperatures really don't have to be precise and constant - just within range - so a big expensive proportional is a bit overkill - IMO.
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Tosha
JET Pythons

They are expensive, but worth every penny. I bought the herpstat pro (4 probe), and absolutely love it. I was able to run my adult male rack, adult female rack, lighting, and incubator all on the same tstat. Hope this helps.

OOOhhhh....
I didn't realize I could run so much off one Tstat....
I was thinking one rack at 300$ to build a 200$ tstat... ouch...

I'm a little less irked about the prices since i now know i can run several racks off one tstat....

hmmm....

thanks
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

I don't think it is a good idea to run soo much stuff off one thermostat. If that one fails, that's a lot of animals it will affect. I know people that have had one of the good digital thermostats fail and lost over 20 snakes that were controlled on it.

My personal feeling, and what I practice, is one thermostat per cage, or per rack. I will actually be replacing a 41qt. rack I use for small adult male Boas this year so that I can get something where each bin is separately heated and I can run each snake with a different thermostat just like my full size cages.

You can never put a price on a life, and that's what is depending on the equipment we use.

Herpstat PRO is $320, divided by the 4 independent outputs, that is $80 per thermostat equivalently. Can't be beat for price or options, and it is a digital proportional thermostat, which is undeniably the best option.
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Gilbert Boas
The Boa List!

Are the Herpstat PRO' better than the Helix DBS-100's??

I have 3 racks and an incubator, all each with their own sperate Hlix. As far as quality goes (not the actually number of probes), which is better: a Helix or a Herpstat?? Which on is more dependable and fail-safe??

I haven't had any problems with my Helix's, even after the power has went out. Four probes in th Herpstat sound so much easier, but at the same time, I'd rather pay for 4 Helix's than sacrifice quality. And where do you find the Herpstats at??
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

Wow, sorry for all the typos.
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

A single output on the Herpstat PRO has less wattage control then the Helix, I think the outputs each hold 400watts. More than enough for those who don't max things out.

They have resettable fuses. Built in night drops. Can be set to a tenth of a degree. Hi and low monitor, alarm feature if desired to be set. And power curve matching for use with different kinds of heating devices so that you get the optimal control.
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Gilbert Boas
The Boa List!

Oh, they are made by Spyder Robotics. Found online at spyderrobotics.com
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Gilbert Boas
The Boa List!

Wow, thanks for the info. It sounds like the real deal... I think I'm deffinitely going to invest in one of those...
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

If you are running all of that on one t-stat, how long are the probes. All of the racks and the incubator have to be close to each other.
Mike