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I have been looking for a good thermostat with temp control that I can plug my heating elements into, but can't seem to find any! Maybe I am looking for the wrong name? Are they not called thermostats?

Thanks.
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~ Noel ~
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eve,
a thermostat measures temperature. what you need is a device with a RHEOSTAT. that is like the dimmer in switch in your car or home lights. jeff informed me that you could most definatly find one at a home depot that jus plugs into your heating devices.

Noel,
...There are a several places I know of that sell thermostats. Try LLL Reptile Supply and Big Apple Herpetological. Both of them sell very good proporional thermostats. Proportional thermostats provide micropulses of electricity to the heating element to heat it up just enough to maintain the temperature you want. Thermostats that are not proportional cost much less money but they are either full on power or full off and this can cause the heater to get the warm spot too hot and then cycle on and off. If you use a rheostat/dimmer in series with a non proportional thermostat you can set the rheostat/dimmer down low enough so that it in combination with the thermostat it keeps the cage warm spot at the right temperature without too much cycling and without it momentarily getting too hot. You can find both LLL and Big Apple under the cages and supplies listing at the Breeders/dealers/stores link above.
Jeff

>>I have been looking for a good thermostat with temp control that I can plug my heating elements into, but can't seem to find any! Maybe I am looking for the wrong name? Are they not called thermostats?
>>
>>Does anyone know where I can get a good one? I am so stumped! You would think all reptile suppliers would sell them!
>>
>>Thanks.
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>>~ Noel ~
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Jeff, Igy, Thank you. That was exactly the information I was looking for.

Just an afterthought, these work best with ceramic heating elements, right? Because that's what I am using. I prefer these to lights. I also have undertank heaters, but those don't get regulated by thermostat do they?
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~ Noel ~
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>>Jeff, Igy, Thank you. That was exactly the information I was looking for.
>>
>>Just an afterthought, these work best with ceramic heating elements, right? Because that's what I am using. I prefer these to lights. I also have undertank heaters, but those don't get regulated by thermostat do they?
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>>~ Noel ~
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>>

I never use lights or any overhead heating except for with my arboreals(red lights). A thermostat or rheostat will work fine with your UTH, I wouldn't use a UTH without one. If your substrate isn't to deep using a UTH on one side with a thermostat should be all you need.

Randy
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I don't care if the glass is half full or half empty !
I just want the full glass I paid for !

Jeff ~

What are your thoughts on ceramic heaters? It was suggested below that all I need is an undertank heater. That just doesn't seem like enough to me, and I worry about burning because my snakes burrow under the towels (my substrate) from time to time. I have one undertank heater in each of my habitats, and it is half covered by the water dish.
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~ Noel ~
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>>Jeff ~
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>>You were right ... they are more expensive (between $120-$150). I am going to need two. I may have to wait a bit.
>>
>>What are your thoughts on ceramic heaters? It was suggested below that all I need is an under tank heater. That just doesn't seem like enough to me, and I worry about burning because my snakes burrow under the towels (my substrate) from time to time. I have one undertank heater in each of my habitats, and it is half covered by the water dish.
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>>~ Noel ~
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Noel have you looked at Big Apple Herpetological web site? they have the BAH-1000 thermostats for under 30 bucks they have three plug ins. I use these for my Rainbows and they work well, for the price I think they are hard to beat.

I and many others don't like over head heat, If you have a good UTH you don't need anything else. Over head heat sources tend to dry the cage out as well as other possible problems. Think about it where these guys live they don't get heat from the sun they get it from their surroundings. just my opinion.

Randy
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I don't care if the glass is half full or half empty !
I just want the full glass I paid for !

Noel,
....I use both ceramic heat emitters and under the cage flexwatt heat tape. But, not on the same cages for Rainbow Boas. Some of my cages are old homemade wood cages with ceramic heat emitters mounted inside in the top of them. I also have melamine box cages with ceramic heat emitters mounted the same way. I use the ceramics inside them because the wood and melamine are so thick that under the floor would require lots more electricity to heat through the wood or melamine. My stacks of Vision cages are heated with flexwatt heattape under the side of each cage. The heattape works well through the thin poly plastic cages. Unless your room temperatures are very low a single heater will work for most any cage. Think of the heater providing a small warm area in the cage with the rest of the cage cooler. The snake can move about in the cage and stay in the part of the cage that has the temperature it needs. Provide secure places to hide so that the snake can make it's decision where to hang out based on temperature rather than security. Hiding places can be very very simple. BRBs often hide under the substrate rather than inside or under more elaborate hiding places. You can use one thermostat to control many cages. If you have a stack of cages that are all the same you can just plug all of the heaters for the cages into the output from one thermostat. If you have different types and sizes of cages you can also control them with one thermostat but you may have to adjust the size or power of the different heaters to get them controlled properly. You can even plug a couple of rheostat/dimmers into the output from the thermostat and the dimmers can provide different power levels to different sizes or types of heaters. Be careful that you do not go above the specified load for the thermostat though. I have wood cages, melamine cages, Vision cages, and two different sizes of plastic boxes in slider racks all controlled with two thermostats and several rheostats in my snake room. WARNING WARNING WARNING....This post mentions using ceramic heat emitters inside cages. If you do this make sure that the ceramic heat emitters are controlled with proportional thermostats or simple thermostats wired in series with rheostat/dimmers to keep the emitters from getting full electrical power. Ceramic heat emitters at full power are hot enough to burn snakes and also pose a fire risk.
Jeff

>>Jeff ~
>>
>>You were right ... they are more expensive (between $120-$150). I am going to need two. I may have to wait a bit.
>>
>>What are your thoughts on ceramic heaters? It was suggested below that all I need is an undertank heater. That just doesn't seem like enough to me, and I worry about burning because my snakes burrow under the towels (my substrate) from time to time. I have one undertank heater in each of my habitats, and it is half covered by the water dish.
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>>~ Noel ~
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You hit the nail on the head with that one. I personally think that a UTH/flexwatt on a thermostat is the way to go, but that's based on the fact that I use plastic caging for all my snakes. It does really depend on the type of cage and how you've got it set up. I'm so glad that I've finally gotten all my snakes into plastic caging. The hodge podge of different cages was impossible to regulate together with one thermostat. Aquariums for me, were a lot more difficult to get heat and humidity stable in.

Noel mentioned that she uses towels as substrate and she's concerned that the UTH will get too hot since the snakes tend to hide under it. I've seen that my BRBs to spend plenty of time under the substrate and adjusted my temps accordingly based on the surface temp under the substrate, not above it. I've still got humid hides on both the warm and cool sides of the cage, but the snakes usually only use them when they are getting ready to shed.

As for thermostats, I've got a couple different types, Helix DB-1000 and a Ranco and though they work differently, they both work pretty well. I prefer the Helix over the Ranco personally, but that's because the Ranco clicks on and off as it cycles.
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Lora

Randy, Jeff, Lora, thanks for your words of advice.

Thank you all so very much for your patience with all of my questions. I appreciate it. I hope you realize what a help you've been and how much newbs like me learn here!!!
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~ Noel ~
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>>Randy, Jeff, Lora, thanks for your words of advice.
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>>I do have glass habitats. I am not sure how much of a difference this makes for using an under tank heater.
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>>The pricing I was talking about was in regards to a proportional thermostat, Randy.
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>>When you say a "good UTH should be all that's needed" what do you consider a "good UTH?" I bought the ones I have at the pet store. They are very thin ones that adhere to the bottom of the tank.
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>>I have heard this heat tape mentioned before. If it's a tape, how can the heat de controlled/regulated? Maybe I just don't know enough about the product. I will look it up today. When you use UTHs and heat tape, do you only place it in one half of the habitat so that it has a heat gradient from one end to the other?
>>
>>Thank you all so very much for your patience with all of my questions. I appreciate it. I hope you realize what a help you've been and how much newbs like me learn here!!!
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>>~ Noel ~
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>>

Noel, check out www.mgreptiles.com Has good info and the prices are good, Matt is a great guy he'll answer any questions you have and is very helpful. The UTH you get at the Pet store should work just fine.

Randy
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I don't care if the glass is half full or half empty !
I just want the full glass I paid for !

>>flexwatt heattape under the side of each cage.

Jeff ~

I almost forgot to ask, What did you mean by the above? The heat tape goes under one side (one half) of the cage?
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~ Noel ~
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Noel,
...IMO Flexwatt is the best undertank heating product. It is a very thin wire matrix covered with mylar. It was originally designed to keep old tube type electrical components warm. You buy it in bulk lengths and cut it to the length you want and then attach electrical wire to it. The easiest and cheapest way is to wire it up is to buy an extension cord and cut off the female end and connect the flexwatt to the cord. Flexwatt is available in 3 inch and 4 inch and 11 inch widths. The different widths have different wattages. Connected to full house current it gets a little too hot and so must be controlled with a thermostat or dimmer. The three or four inch widths under one end of a small cage is ideal for a baby BRB. The 11 inch width under one side works great in cages 36 inches long and larger. Glass tanks are not my favorite BRB cage but with most of the screen top covered and a piece of 3 or 4 inch thermostatically controlled flexwatt taped under one end they do work great.
Jeff

>>>>flexwatt heattape under the side of each cage.
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>>Jeff ~
>>
>>I almost forgot to ask, What did you mean by the above? The heat tape goes under one side (one half) of the cage?
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>>~ Noel ~
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>>

Thank you for being so precise. I understand now. I am going to upgrade my tanks as soon as I have the cash to do so, and I am looking into vision cages for my upgrade. I have heard a lot of positive feedback on them.

Again, thanks for your patience.
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~ Noel ~
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Noel,
....Alright!! Your question about the one on the bottom having heat top and bottom is a good one. Now you are thinking like many of us had to think about this subject before there were internet reptile sites and before there were products that had been tried and proven like we have today. I stack my cages 4 cages high. The bottom three do have top and bottom heat and the top one only has the bottom heat. This would seem like it could be a problem. But, warm air rises and the floor of most rooms is a couple degrees cooler than up near the ceiling. In my cages I do not usually see much difference in cage temp between the top one and the bottom three but it could be a factor at some times. I do notice that the top cage stays wetter than the bottom three most of the time. I like my Vision cages but they do have a drawback. The sliding glass doors are on big honking rails inset into the cage. This makes for a hidden area above and below the doors. The snakes are often hiding there and they wedge themselves into the area under the rails which makes them sometimes just a little difficult to take out of the cage. Also, other cages with smaller door rails and full length top to bottom glass doors are better for viewing the snakes.
Jeff

>>Thank you for being so precise. I understand now. I am going to upgrade my tanks as soon as I have the cash to do so, and I am looking into vision cages for my upgrade. I have heard a lot of positive feedback on them.
>>
>>I have one more quick question about the UTHs ... If they are stacked, does the one on the bottom have regulation problems because technically it has a heat source above and below it?
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>>Again, thanks for your patience.
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>>~ Noel ~
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>>

Noel,
I originally used ( and still use) Lizard Lounges for my BRB's. They are glass tanks with a solid top and each of the ones I have has 12 vents that can be capped to allow regulation of temp/humidity. Ten to eleven of the caps are closed the majority of the time to provide a suitable environment. Since I have gotten more BRB's I am replacing the Lizard Lounges with BARRS cage, which are 36 x 24 x 12. I now have 3. They are heated with flexwatt tape controlled with plug in type dimmers. Each cage has 2 feet of 11 inch, 20 watt per foot on the back left corner. Each cage has it's own dimmer. They are stacked 3 high. Thes cages have a lip underneath each of them to allow a very small amount of circulation and room for the tape and cord to hang out the back. Currently they do not have a thermostat, however, in a few more months when I turn on AC I will buy a Big Apple Poportional Thermostat for 130$ to use in conjuction with the dimmers. The top one is the one I will put the thermostat on to regulate since this will be the most critical.

I like the flexwatt more than the other UTH mats I have because even at full power they are not as hot. I have an ESU mat, and 2 T-rex cobra mats. Both of the 2 get 135 degrees when the temp is measured without any substate covering it. The flexwatt temp I do not know since I've not checked it without the use of a rheostat. I maintain them at 76 degrees with 2 to 4 inches of substrate (cypress mulch) above them. One hide that contains semi-wet sphagum moss is on top of the tape and 2/3 of a water bowl.

This is just what I do, it may not be right. So far it seems okay.

Linda