Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am building my own rack for my ball's. I read some of the posts below and they were very helpful. I had wanted to ask, this may sound stupid, but I'd like to know: I would like to only use about 10 watts per foot (3 inch Flexwatt) for belly heat in my rack. If I used two strips of 3 inch flexwatt right next to each other, would this still only be 10 watts or would it be 20? I need the larger area to heat the tubs for my adult balls, but didn't want to jump to 20 watts (only for safety in the unlikely event of the rheostat failing). Please advise. Thanks.

Circusfan

Yes it would be 20 watts. You would just be doubling the wattage by adding a second strip. Instead of using a dimmer use a thermostat and save yourself some worry... That way you can go with the 11" and be safe!
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www.mgreptiles.com
CBB Herps and Heating Supplies

Thanks a lot for the advice. I was told that thermostats can fail as easily as a rheostat. Is that incorrect? Thanks again.

Circusfan

The cheap thermostats are worse in my opinion, thats the alife and zoo med tstats.. Herpstat, helix, ranco and Johnson controls are very reliable. I havent heard of any of these failing. I have put about 500 units out there and nothing about failing has came to me..
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www.mgreptiles.com
CBB Herps and Heating Supplies

I completely disagree with the owner of a certain company who in my opinion simply likes to promote his own products for free in what is supposed to be a forum for reptile care and not an advertising center.

In any event, I have understood that between LLL and Big Apple they cummatively sell over 10,000 a year of what "he" refers to as "cheap thermostats". The fact of the matter is that the defective rate on those "cheap thermostats" appears to be less than 1/100th of one percent.

I have 4 ALIFE units and 17 BAH-1000 units running for over 18 months flawlessy. I also have some Helix and Herp Power Proportionals. None of these units have caused me any problems. I would recommend them to anyone. However, I would indicate that I do like my Herp Powers the best since I find them most accurate.

Okay, had to put my 2 cents in here since I feel those who sell things in the trade like to mislead.

Winston