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Heating your reptile room

Heating your reptile room

If you live in an area with cold winters or keep tropical species, you may have to provide supplemental heat. Radiant heat panels will probably heat an enclosure up enough that the room temperature is not terribly important, but if your room is very cold or if you're depending on heat tape alone, it is best to heat the room into at least the low 70s(F). The heater used is important but much more important is to use at least two thermostats in tandem since a runaway thermostat will potentially cause the temperature to raise too high and endanger all animals in the entire room.

Here are a couple of Heaters that I would recommend:

In addition to a heater, you will want two thermostats regulating each device. If your device comes with a built-in thermostat, that can count as one but often such built-in controls are not very accurate. I will list a couple of thermostats you can use.
  •  These thermostats are OK as far as far accuracy goes (couple of degrees F) and make good backup thermostats. Unfortunately, they can stick in the ON position and I personally consider them dangerous to use alone. They are better than most in this price range, though. Jump Start MTPRTC Digital Controller Thermostat For Heat Mats, Seed Germination, Reptiles and Brewing
  • A higher quality model has tighter temperature controls, is less likely to stick in the on position, and can cool as well as heat. I use these as my primary controller for whole room heating (with the cheaper model above as the backup). I also use these for controlling air conditioners and fridges. Ranco ETC pre-wired controller.
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