Thermostats?

[Frank Castle]

Who uses Thermostats on their enclosures? What type do you use? Are you happy/have had any problems with them? I want to set one up on my cham cage so it doesnt over/under heat during the day while I am at work. Any advice or coments are appreciated. Thanks

Frank

 

[Nikrah86]

I use a thermostat with my meru on the basking lamp as an extra precaution against overheating since the species requires cooler temps for basking and ambient. Overall, I've been very happy with it, but I do have a single concern that as the enclosure heats up during the day there won't be enough basking time for the little guy because the thermostat will keep the lamp off. Fortunately this doesn't seem to have been an issue yet because he likes to bask in the mornings from my observations and only periodically the rest of the day.

Also I should mention I'm using a proportional thermostat, which I believe are far superior to normal thermostats because they're not as harsh on your lighting hardware. If you decide to use a thermostat, you'll also need a surge protector (a small single plug one is what I use) to protect whatever it controls from the on/off surges that they invariably produce. I know this is true for lights because I blew out 3 bulbs before realizing what was happening, but I'm not sure of its necessity for other heating implements. A friend of mine that keeps corn snakes uses the exact same thermostat from Big Apple Herps without a surge protector on a ceramic heat emitter...

Hope this info helps!

 

[Frank Castle]

I use a thermostat with my meru on the basking lamp as an extra precaution against overheating since the species requires cooler temps for basking and ambient. Overall, I've been very happy with it, but I do have a single concern that as the enclosure heats up during the day there won't be enough basking time for the little guy because the thermostat will keep the lamp off. Fortunately this doesn't seem to have been an issue yet because he likes to bask in the mornings from my observations and only periodically the rest of the day.

Also I should mention I'm using a proportional thermostat, which I believe are far superior to normal thermostats because they're not as harsh on your lighting hardware. If you decide to use a thermostat, you'll also need a surge protector (a small single plug one is what I use) to protect whatever it controls from the on/off surges that they invariably produce. I know this is true for lights because I blew out 3 bulbs before realizing what was happening, but I'm not sure of its necessity for other heating implements. A friend of mine that keeps corn snakes uses the exact same thermostat from Big Apple Herps without a surge protector on a ceramic heat emitter...

Hope this info helps!

Does The Proportional Thermostat work kind of like a dimmer? I am looking to put it mainly in the basking area. For the basking area, is it just heat or the light that matters, or both? What is the brand of the thermostate, where can i get them? Thank You

Frank

 

[Nikrah86]

It does act like a dimmer by diminishing the power through the fixture proportionally according to the temperature where the probe is. In the basking area, both heat and light matter I believe, but the ability of the animal to warm itself by basking is the particularly important part.

The brand of thermostat is Big Apple Herps I believe, but I'm not sure off the top of my head. You can get it from www.bigappleherp.com and it is the only proportional thermostat that I've found to be of very good quality. (they are rather hard to find considering thermostats that are simple on/off switches are extremely common)