Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can anyone here recomend a good thermostat to use? I want one that has no room for error. Preferably digital, and one I can set a specific temp too. I woke up this morning to find the warm side on one of my tanks at 99!!! GAH! Luckily the cool side was much much lower, so he had some escape, but still. That won't do at all. So much for cheap thermostats. So, I've come to terms with dropping some cash...but there's quite a few things out there, so I was wondering on what?

Thanks!
-----
**************************************
- JENN ROSE -
www.jennrose.com

0.1.0 classic corn~ "Pumpkin"
1.0.0 leucistic texas ratsnake~ "Worm"

we have switched most of our facility over the the Rancos, including incubation. i have tried MANY thermos over the years, and these are hands down the best. i sleep easy at night with the Rancos running.

Jeff Ronne at boaphile.com has busted his butt to get the Rancos out to the reptile market, and he makes a very nice product, prewired, preprogrammed, everything you need to plug and play. there are quite a few other folks copying his product, but he deserves the business, give him a shot.

and as a note, you couldn't pay me to use the Helix units, i have had so many of those short and fry, they make good paperweights, and that is about it...
-----
robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

Thank you so much. I was looking into the Helix...but would hate to spend that kind of money (especially since I will eventually need two units) and have it fry. I will look into those other ones you talked about right now. Thank you!
-----
**************************************
- JENN ROSE -
www.jennrose.com

0.1.0 classic corn~ "Pumpkin"
1.0.0 leucistic texas ratsnake~ "Worm"

Just checked them out...if I buy two, they will be about $40 less each than the Helixes...saving me $80. I like that...I like that alot.
-----
**************************************
- JENN ROSE -
www.jennrose.com

0.1.0 classic corn~ "Pumpkin"
1.0.0 leucistic texas ratsnake~ "Worm"

I agree about the Rancos. I have two and they are very dependable. They may not be proportional, but they are dependable.
I bought mine directly from Granger.com. You have to wire it up yourself, but that isn't hard if you follow the directions.
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

>>I agree about the Rancos. I have two and they are very dependable. They may not be proportional, but they are dependable.
>>I bought mine directly from Granger.com. You have to wire it up yourself, but that isn't hard if you follow the directions.
>>-----

Glad to hear this. I just bought one on ebay for a good price. I haven't received it yet, but the seller seems to be a good guy, so here's a link to his auctions - http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZsirbear60QQhtZ-1

deg

>>
>>and as a note, you couldn't pay me to use the Helix units, i have had so many of those short and fry, they make good paperweights, and that is about it...

I have 3 Helix 1500 watt thermostats that are now 13 years old and have never had anything worse happen with them than a blown fuse (replaceable for about a buck). I absolutely love my Helixes. Maybe the newer ones are not the same quality as the older ones though?
Ophidiophile Farms

I have the double Ranco from Boaphile because I'm paranoid about safety I guess. It's been fine. So good that I would go with the single in the future. If you only have a few animals there are heat pads that you can just leave without a thermostat (allow good air space)As long as your animal can move to a cool side you should be fine. I have kept some animals like leucistic Black rats for 12 years like that with no problems.

I use the Johnson Controls thermostats which I got from mgreptiles.com. The Johnson has a few more features and has a smaller footprint than the Ranco. MG Reptiles carries several thermostats and has page with comparisons on their site, which was quite useful to me. (Matt at MG has been fantastic in all my dealings with him, and was happy to help identify the best choice for my applications.)