Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,
Currenlty I am searching for an economical, safe heat source for two baby corn snakes in plastic tubs, and probably for my new ball python cage I'm designing. I am leaning toward using flexwatt, as I can add more heating units relatively inexpensively.
First off, will the flex watt heat through the rubbermaid without melting it?
I have read several pages on wiring flex watt, and all mention using a thermometer or rheostat. So which is better? I think I am correct in saying that a rheostat has a dial that allows me to change the amount of power and therefore heat to the unit, and a thermometer has a sensor that adjusts the amount of heat to what I want automatically. Does the more economical rheostat work about as well?

Thanks in advance,
Taylor

` I use both. I use thermostat to regulate the temperature. I also use a rheostat between the thermostat and the heat tape to make sure the heat tape can't go over 85 degrees, or so. If the thermostat should stick on, the rheostat protects from the very high temperatures the heat tape, or any other heat source, can reach. This is where a non-contact IR thermometer comes in handy. It makes it easy to set the rheostat, in the first place. You've got to pre-set the rheostat with full, constant power.
` Rheostats are cheap and easy to make. Put the rheostat in a plug box with a dial slot, and two outlet face. It's all at the hardware store. Under $10.
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So the rheostat just controls the amount of electricity that passes into the heat tape. To set it, I should get a thermometer, stick it in my cage, and adjust the dial until it is at the temperature I want. Is it fairly safe to have only this, no thermometer?

Thanks,
Taylor

Rheostats are inexpensive and good for reducing the wattage of a heater - BUT you must realize that rheostats are not smart - they don't "know" what temp is too high, and they don't adjust for rising room air temps (if the room air temp goes up, so does the heat tape temp..). As a result, it is far better to use a thermometer so you can see what is going on.

Also, it may take an hour or so for the heater to heat up fully, so adjusting the dial and reading the thermometer seconds later will not give you an accurate reading of what the final temp will be.

That ZooMed 150 Watt dimmer is actually good! The lower wattage rating means better resolution when adjusting, meaning a tiny change in dial setting won't result in a huge change in heater temp (compared to the 600 Watt rotary dimmers used by many.) Of course, make sure your heater wattage is well below 150 Watts is using that rheostat.

The best approach if using a dimmer (rheostat) is to use a thermostat as well. You plug the dimmer into the output of the thermostat. The inexpensive 1000 Watt Alife thermostat is fine. Plug the ZooMed dimmer into that and you've got a decent temp-adjusting system that protects against overheating, for well under $100.00.