Recommended Thermostats & Heating Options

[Yoshi'smom]

Hey all! Calling all super herp keepers!
Now that I've hit my max capacity with herps I've been thinking about saving up some extra cash to do a complete heating do over (also upgrading some tanks). Right now I'm looking for a thermostat that will allow me to plug in up to 8 heating devices and adjust the temps. I would like to put all of my herps heating onto one device (which is at least 6 heating devices). Right now I'm using those crappy rheostats. It's been driving me bonkers checking the temps and adjusting the little knobs every day or so as the temps in the gecko room have been fluctuating a bit. Can any one recommend one that isn't terribly expensive but worth the $. I don't mind spending a little extra if it's going to be a good investment.
I'll also be upgrading the heat sources as well. I have heat ropes that are complete crap and don't stay where you want them, a UTH that is getting old and won't put out the heat it used to, and a heat lamp. I've been considering more and more getting CHE's for all the tanks. But I have never used one before.
I will need heating for:
30 gal long housing one Leopard gecko- Slate tile and paper towel substrate
30 gal long housing two Leopard geckos- Slate tile and paper towel substrate
20 gal long housing one Leopard gecko- Slate tile and paper towel substrate
15 gal standard housing one garter snake- EcoEarth substrate
10 gal standard housing one Smooth Knobtailed gecko- Mix of sand and Excavator clay substrate
Thanks for all your expert advice!

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

Kelly, if I were you I'd switch to using flexwatt heat tape. You can buy this in rolls and cut it to whatever size you want for each individual tank. A little wiring is involved, but it is very simple and many sellers of flexwatt provide instructions.

As for a thermostat, I would recommend something quality like a Ranco, Johnson's, herpstat, helix, etc. You want to make sure that whatever you get can handle the wattage of the heating that's going to be run on it. You may need more than one thermostat based on that.

It's going to be a bit of an investment, but your geckos are going to be around for years to come. So you might as well invest in the right stuff one time instead of having to constantly upgrade over and over again.

Here's just a couple of links to get you started:
This person sells Ranco and Johnson thermostats at decent prices: kingsnake.com Classifieds: Ranco and Johnson Controls Thermostats

These guys have tonsof different heating and control products including flexwatt and Helix, Herpstat, etc:
kingsnake.com Classifieds: Flexwatt, Herpstats, Helix & Alife at the Bean Farm

 

[Harley_Davidson]

Kelly I have one tank that has the Flexwatt heat tape and girl I am telling you I plan on switching all mine over to it...... its fabulous!

 

[Yoshi'smom]

Thanks Ethan. I almost forgot about Flexwatt! I had been looking at it a little while back.
I'll look into it more throughly.
My plan is to make sure that everyone should be nice and comfy cosy for the rest of their lives! I don't want to have to do anymore upgrading! I don't mind spending a lot to make sure that they have the best captive environment that I can provide!

 

[Nativeson]

Flexwatt and herpstat is the way to go. I've used most every brand of thermostat out there and herpstat is the my first choice. I run two herpstat II for my 4 racks and that allows a probe and seperate setting for each one. They do make a herpstat pro that has 4 seperate probes and allows seperate settings for each one. I also use two older model herpstats for incubator back ups and they have never failed me!! Good luck...I love upgrade time!!!

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk

 

[AeroWRX]

Flexwatt is the way to go for any medium to large number of enclosures. It's simple and easy to use and CHEAP.

I use two Hydrofarm Thermostats. They are $31 from Amazon and work great to keep temperatures +/- 3-5 degF.

Ethan is absolutely right about looking at the Wattage as the deciding factor. Because you need enough total wattage to even power everything. I would add up all the heating devices u need for your tanks, and also see if you need independent thermostats depending on different heating elements and tank sizes. Because plugging them all into one thermostat won't mean it all heats up at the same rate or same temperature.

I have one Hydrofarm thermostat connected to one UTH for my 30gallon and one UTH for the roach/cricket tub. Another Hydrofarm connected to two small UTH for the 20gallon, the ceramic heater emitter, and another UTH (sideways) on the 30gallon.

The Ranco thermostat seems to be $60 for the base unit and is 1500W. The Hydrofarm thermostat is 1000W capacity. The Herpstat is 500W and at $109.

Just to put things into perspective.
Ranco: $0.04/Watt
Hydrofarm: $0.03/Watt
Herpstat: $0.21/Watt

Herpstat has a proportional controller so its the most accurate out of all thermostats out there pretty much. You pay for what you get. I assume the Ranco and Hydrofarm are similar performance wise. Can keep temperatures within +/-5 degrees.

I'd say Hydrofarm offers more adaptability as you can have multiple ones and experiment with temperatures to find a good combination instead of feeding it all based on one thermometer reading.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

checking in......

 

[Yoshi'smom]

I'm definitely going with Flexwatt. I'm still undecided as far as a thermostat. I'm probably going with a Hydrofarm...... It turns out I have one less tank to heat.