thermostat

xxzmmorexx

New Member
Yet another question haha! i am looking at some of these digital led thermostats like VE, herpstat, Helix, etc. I am planning on setting up for 2 chameleons one for myself and my girlfriend and EVENTUALLY down the road try breeding after we feel comfortable enough. Does anyone think these products are a good idea or just stick with gauges, i really like the digital look and would need to know how to run them but just want some ideas! thanks again everyone.

zack
 
Yet another question haha! i am looking at some of these digital led thermostats like VE, herpstat, Helix, etc. I am planning on setting up for 2 chameleons one for myself and my girlfriend and EVENTUALLY down the road try breeding after we feel comfortable enough. Does anyone think these products are a good idea or just stick with gauges, i really like the digital look and would need to know how to run them but just want some ideas! thanks again everyone.

zack

I haven't bothered with thermostats for chams because they don't really need exact temp control 24/7. Being arboreal, they are naturally a bit more suited to handle a daily cycle of temp and light than a terrestrial herp that absorbs much of its body heat slowly from the ground (which releases heat more gradually over time), and will regulate their own body temp by moving around in their enclosure. As they get their heat from the "sun" overhead, this makes it easy to adjust by moving the bulb closer or farther away from the cage. Now for my snakes I do use thermostats to keep their ground/belly heat more constant without risks of burning and without light. I think a thermostat-controlled light that turns on and off to maintain a constant temp would be disruptive to a cham and some types of lights won't work with a thermostat if the bulb can't be dimmed. If you need to worry about the cage getting too warm in summer you could simply put the basking light on a timer...turn it on for a morning warm up and off during the peak of the day and leave the UV light on by itself.

There probably isn't a real reason NOT to try it...but I suspect you'll find you don't really need it.
 
Zack,

I don't use a thermostat directly inside my Cham cages. I do use a Digital Aquatics Herpkeeper to control the lighting, humidity, and ambient temperatures of my reptile room. I'm not particularly happy with the Herpkeeper but it does the job. If I were to do it all over again I would get the Ecozone. I also have a Helix proportional controller but its used on my monitor basking site. She needs a temperature of 108 so I use a large wattage flood lamp and let the Helix control the temp.

I'm away from home quite frequently and I love the ability of the advanced controllers to contact you if something goes amiss.

And honestly these gadgets aren't a necessity you can do a very nice job with the proper wattage bulb in the basking lamp and a few programmable timers.

But I do love my gadgets.
 
I don't know if a thermostat is necessary. If your cage is setup properly they are equipped to self-regulate. I just bought a laser temp gun and I clocked the area on the screen just below the 10.0 UVB bulb I use at the mid-90's. The bottom of the cage is 75-76. In between you'll have an obvious gradient.

I have a (digital) space heater 5 feet away set to 75 degrees. You'd be surprised how hot the fluoerscent tube bulbs get. It may be all you need!
 
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