Heating

[Anthony88]

Hi, can anyone tell me if i need a thermostat hooked up to my heat matt, or can i just use the heat matt on its own and use a thermometer in different areas of the tank to work out its heat gradient? Or wil the tank be to hard to maintain at a constant heat gradient.

[hodges]

i would use both
you can buy a thermostat just for heat cords/matts for 79 bucks microclimate ministat 100
or a b2me for around 150
cheers
brad

[cris]

I dont use any heat mats myself but i believe that you dont need thermostats with the low wattage mats.
I use the low wattage heat cords (4m 15w) without thermostats on all my snakes kept in plastic tubs. I control the temperature as much as is required by changing the amout of contact the heat source has with the enclosure floor. with a heat cord this means using less length of cord per enclosure and with a mat you would just change the area in contact.

Be careful what you buy because some heating products are not safe without thermostats and advice from many shops is usually aimed at selling thermostats more than common sense.

Thermostats are only needed for incubators IMO so you wont be needing one until you start breeding stuff.

Oh yeah welcome to the site

[hodges]

yea i still use 15 watt heat cord
and it still gets to hot
around 33-36
so im better of using a thermo and a thermostat
cheers
brad

[hodges]

just depends where u live..
as in different temps in different states
cheers
brad