Controling temperature question

[myounguf]

Hello all,

I was just wondering what everyone uses to control basking lights in their cages?

I have a baby beardie with a basking bulb that I am currently controlling with a dimer in his temporary enclosure; however, I am building his new enclosure starting next week and was juggling between the idea of using a proportional thermostat or staying with my dimmer. My only reservations about using a thermostat is that my little guy loves laying on the temperature probes which tells me the temperature of his basking spot. When he lays on the probe it drops the temperature about 10-15 degrees because it is being shield from the real temperature by his body. I am afraid that if I am using the thermostat in his new enclosure and he decides to lay on the probe like he does now, that it will fool the thermostat to raising the basking temperature to dangerous temperatures. So I am thinking that I will just stick to the dimer seeing that it is currently doing the job quite well.

What do you guys think and/or what have you had success with?

Thanks!

[mhartmann]

If the dimmer is working well, great! Proportional thermostats are expensive, but they are also pretty awesome. One way to make sure that he doesn't lay on the probe would be to put the probe somewhere where he couldn't lay on it. Then adjust accordingly so your basking spot is right.

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[myounguf]

I thought of this; however, wouldn't putting the probe above the basking spot defeat the purpose of the thermostat due to the fact that the ambient temperature would effect and skew the heat output. For example, a cooler room in the winter would make for cooler ambient temps which would in turn take more heat to reach the surface of the basking spot. I might just stick to the old dimmer, oldie but goodie.

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[Hairless]

This is how I keep snakes from coming in contact with the probe and causing a false reading (I moved the bedding aside for the photo). The probe is taped to the floor, then I tape the half piece of pipe over the probe leaving most of the holes open to aviod trapping the heat in...

For beardies I use a wooden perch set under the basking spot. I adjust the distance of the perch from the bulb to get the temp where I want it.

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[myounguf]

I actually might steal that pvc trick for the rtb's new enclosure. Thanks! As for the beardie, I will most likely stick with the dimmer to avoid the headache.

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