Proportional Thermostat

[naturabornkilla]

Hello. I have a caramel corn snake, and I want to get a proportional thermostat for her to maintain temp of the enclosure.

Most people seem to recommend an expensive thermostat that's at least 100$ US, such as a herpstat, vivarium electronics, helix, etc.. But a lot of them seem to be either breeders, or people with multiple reptiles.

My question is, how reasonable is it to get something like a herpstat, just for 1 reptile? I have the money to get a herpstat 1 basic but I would not like to spend that much money if its not necessary. Also, if anyone has had a cheaper proportional thermostat that is of good quality and lasts a long time which you would like to recommend, please do :)

Any answers greatly appreciated.

[toddnbecka]

You don't actually need a proportional t-stat, particularly for a single corn snake. Plenty of folks use cheaper t-stats, though personally I would recommend a good quality heat mat like an ultratherm rather than a zoo-med or similar type. The ultratherm heat mats won't get hot enough to cook your critter/s in the event of a t-stat failing to shut off.

[eminart]

I wouldn't spend the money for just one snake. I think on/off tstats are fine the vast majority of cases. Where proportional tstats are more important is in incubators and other applications where there needs to be no temp fluctuation at all.

[pet_snake_78]

I actually use the lamp dimmers from lowes sometimes, 12$. Facts are my reptile rooms are climate controlled and don't change much per day so they work fine for me but tstats are a little easier, either way works fine for me. However I prefer to spring for a proportional tstat if buying one. I tried a few hyfrofarm ones before and thought they were crap. The ranco prewired ones work fine, I've got them controlling rhps and fridges right now.

[Sublimeballs]

Maybe I see it a little differently, but if I had only one snake I'd see it as a huge excuse to "spoil" it. That being said I have a bunch of snakes and I use: hydrofarms, jonhson/ranco, vivarium electronics, and herpstats. The overwhelming majority being herpstats. They're seriously the best all around thermostat in the hobby. They have so many features. That being said if the money was something I was worried about I'd just go with a (non-proportional) jonhson/ranco thermostat.

[AZretic]

Not sure what the issue with hydro farm is or why you think they are "crap" but mine works fantastic and had a previous one last two years and for 28.00 you can beat the price