Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am looking for a thermostat for a heat pad any suggestions???

I have a Ranco thermostat which I really like. It is very dependable. You could shell out $100+ for a Helix system, but the Rancos are supposedly more dependable and cheaper. Sure the Helix systems are proportional, but if you just stick a rheostat on there to control the temperature and a thermostat to shut off the tape when the room is too warm it gets the job done cheapr.

Of course, you could also just get one of these -
Inexpensive thermostat from Big Apple Herp Supply.
I have two of these and they work great. You just don't get the fancy digital readout, but in reality, you just want it to shut off if it gets to warm, so how precise do you really need to be?!

However, you also need some sort of dimmer/rheostat for your heat pad as well. Most heat pads/tapes get too hot without some sort of "dimming".
Plug in lamp dimmers work well for this, although they cost as much as the similar units from Big Apple. If you are ordering the thermostat at the same time, you will save on the shipping cost.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

how does a dimmer/rheostat differ from a thermostat if i am putting the probe on the heat pad itself? Is that not monitoring how hot the heat pad gets?

The rheostat simply reduces the flow of current to the heat pad which prevents it from heating up as much. You can use the rheostat/dimmer to control how hot the heat pad gets at its maximum.

You can use thermostats to do several things. You can use them to try and control the output of the heat pad by putting the probe in the cage over the heat pad. When it gets too hot, it turns off the heat pad. However, just putting a good rheostat on the heat pad will prevent this from ever happening and this theoretically keeps the heat source at a constant temperature (not shutting off and on all the time).

Some people use thermostats to back up their rheostats. They use them to make sure the heat tape doesn't overheat.

You can also use the thermostat to shut off the heat tape altogether if the room temperature exceeds a certain temperature. Theoretically, if the room gets really warm, the snakes won't need the tape. However, snakes aren't stupid and will get off the heat end if this occurs.

I use my thermostat to regulate the room heater. I have an oil filled room heater that I use in my snake room in the winter. These things have notoriously undependable thermostats that get stuck on and cook snakes. I prevent that by running it through a Ranco thermostat which shuts the heater off if the temps in the room get over 82°F. My heat tapes are on lamp dimmers and stay on all the time since there is always a cool end of the cage away from the tape.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas