Thermostat??

[capoeirajosh]

I am planning on building a hatchling rack in the near future and I plan on using the flexwatt heat tape for it. My question is, is it absolutley necessary to use a themostat with heat tape?? I am trying to do this as inexpensive as possible.

 

[Lena]

Yes, the heat tape will get extremely hot without one.

I bought the Reptitemp from Zoomed, it's technically a rhetostat but it works just fine, you just need a thermometer to make sure you get the temps right.

 

[capoeirajosh]

That seems way more reasonably priced for a beginner, haha. So does that just hook up to the heat tape or what??

 

[Tanner505Geckos]

i would recomend a helix dbs1000 i have had no problem with mine

 

[capoeirajosh]

Can you hook up the Reptitemp to heat cable as well, or does that just hook up to the heat tape??

 

[Nigel4less]

It really depends what your using it for since you are heating a Rack Slight variation is not harmful. 90 degrees is your target temperature, but Leopards are very hardy and of around 5 degrees is expected from Rheostats. I would recommend a Proportional thermostat such as a Helix DBS-1000 or a Herpstat, which are around $109.00-$130.00 a piece. A Proportional thermostat should give you virtually no Variation(Although slight temperature variation is to be expected when hooking up a new Unit). Also in your case since you are new to building Racks I would recommend using Zoo-Med's heat cable. Which basically you just plug into the thermostat after you have ran it through your rack system. Hope this Helps.

 

[capoeirajosh]

What would be a good way to run the heat cable along the rack though?? I understand how to do it with the heat tape, but the heat cable I am kinda sketchy on. Would you put it under the tubs or along the back of them??

 

[Nigel4less]

What you do is make Grooves with a Dremel and run the heat cable through there.

 

[capoeirajosh]

Do you have to seperate the heat cable from the wood with tape or something?? Does the same go for tubs?? Sorry, about all the questions. Is there maybe a diagram out there somewhere where I can see pics of how to do it?? What wattage would you recommend??

 

[nats]

i would recomend a helix dbs1000 i have had no problem with mine

This is what I use too. Very reliable, highest recommendation! :main_yes:

And YES, you do need a thermostat w/ heat tape.