Thermostat, Light Timer Advice, & Humidity Gauge?

[reereejugs]

Can anyone recommend good, reasonably priced, thermostats, light timers, & humidity gauges? There's no way to run a CHE through both a thermostat & a timer, is there? I'm supposed to run 16 hours on, 8 off, right? How do I even hook a thermostat up inside a tank? Do they have multiple probes or something? Are there any timers that will shut lights off at night AND kick the CHE on when the lights go out? I've been running on about 6 hours of sleep because I currently have to stay up to turn his lights off & CHE on, I've always had insomnia & it usually takes me at least 2 hours to fall asleep after laying down, & I have to get up 8 hours after turning his lights off to turn them back on. I'm exhausted--it's like having another human baby lol.

What exactly is the optimal humidity range? Pancake is my second dragon (second reptile at all), he's around 3-4 months old, & I don't want to make any of the same mistakes I made with my rescue dragon.

I have to run 3 lights, at least until he's old enough to drop his basking spot below 105°, & sometimes I have to turn his CHE partly up (it has a dimmer switch) during the day to maintain correct temps. I keep my apartment around 64°, hence the need for so many heat sources. I'm not cooking him, I promise! We've been checking his temps frequently & I'd like to not have to do that because I don't want to freak my little pancake out by messing with him or his house too much until he has time to really get settled in. I just brought him home Thursday so he's barely had time to get to know us, although he is already jumping into my hand most of the time when I go to pet him

Stats:
•40 gallon breeder tank with mesh screen lid
•24" Reptisun T5 HO Terrarium hood with Reptisun 10.0 bulb
•Zoo Med Mini Deep Dome Fixture with a 100 watt basking bulb & a 50 watt basking bulb. I switched the 100 watt incandescent out for a 100 watt halogen basking bulb when I woke up this morning in hope that it will produce enough heat that I won't need the CHE at all during the day.
•Single small dome fixture with a 75 watt heat bulb.
•150 watt CHE--fixture has a dimmer switch & is mainly used at night.
•Infrared temp gun used about 2 inches from whatever I'm measuring. I've tested it against pet store heat guns & it's accurate.

 

[CooperDragon]

I wouldn't worry too much about humidity unless the air feels very damp or very dry to you. Their native habitat ranges from around 30-60% depending on the area and time of year. I don't measure it but some folks use a Accurite thermometer/hygrometer that sits in the tank.

For lighting, you can get a dual outlet thermostat to control the basking light and CHE on separate settings. This is how I have mine set up. I have a Herpstat 2. One output is set to dimmer and controls the basking light during the day (temp probe over basking area). The other controls the CHE at night using a pulse/on off setting (temp probe on cool side floor). There is a timer built in to the system and it's fully programmable.

I have my T5 UVB tube set on a mechanical on/off timer which works well. They are pretty cheap and you can set it to turn the UVB light on an hour or two after the basking light comes on and an hour or two before the basking light goes off to (loosely) imitate strength of sun throughout the day.

 

[reereejugs]

I wouldn't worry too much about humidity unless the air feels very damp or very dry to you. Their native habitat ranges from around 30-60% depending on the area and time of year. I don't measure it but some folks use a Accurite thermometer/hygrometer that sits in the tank.

For lighting, you can get a dual outlet thermostat to control the basking light and CHE on separate settings. This is how I have mine set up. I have a Herpstat 2. One output is set to dimmer and controls the basking light during the day (temp probe over basking area). The other controls the CHE at night using a pulse/on off setting (temp probe on cool side floor). There is a timer built in to the system and it's fully programmable.

I have my T5 UVB tube set on a mechanical on/off timer which works well. They are pretty cheap and you can set it to turn the UVB light on an hour or two after the basking light comes on and an hour or two before the basking light goes off to (loosely) imitate strength of sun throughout the day.

Thank you! I'll look in the Herpestat 2 & get another cheap dual thermometer/hygrometer. I had one of the cheap dual ones for my old dragon but was never sure if the hygrometer part was accurate. I threw it away when he died because I wasn't sure if it could be sanitized well enough & didn't want to risk it. He was a rescue who the vet said definitely had MBD when I took him in & thought he might also have had ADV but I couldn't afford the bloodwork before he passed I threw EVERYTHING but the tank, screen top (I have 2 cats, its necessary), & lights away & sanitized the **** out of them. I use a temp gun for checking temps.

I saw some cheap dial light timers at Walmart last night. Will those work? I actually need 4 outlets to plug lights into because I need to run 2 basking lights (combo fixture), a separate heat lamp, & the UVB during the day + rarely the CHE (it has a dimmer switch). It's not overkill, I promise--I check temps regularly & 98% of the time lights keep his main basking spot right at 105° & the cool side at 80°. My apartment is kept ~64° because if I keep it any warmer, my middle child & I get nosebleeds, headaches, & our asthma acts up. Idk why. I was thinking I could run the CHE through the thermostat? That would kick it on if needed throughout the day & kick it on overnight when the lights go off, right?

Edit: holy crap, the Herpestat 2 is around $250?? That would seriously cut into the savings I've started for future vet visits. I saw some other thermostats on Amazon just now when I searched for it & this one caught my eye:
Zoo Med ReptiTemp RT-600 Digital Thermostat Controller https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FYXX9L3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_KKJPCb7S7P9Y2

Or this one?
Aquarium/Reptile/Incubators/Gardening Digital Temperature Thermostat with NTC Sensor Probe https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073LNKVKJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_l1JPCb6SBVZ5G

Would one of these be ok or one of the other thermostats that pop up when you look at the links? At least until I get my vet visit savings up over $1,000 in a few months? I'm hoping to stay at or under $100 if possible for now. I see they only have 1 heat probe instead of 2 but I don't think I really need 2 since my apartment is so cold--the cool side never gets above 90°, max, during the day even if the CHE is running full blast, which it never is. I have to position the second heat fixture in a certain spot just to keep the cool side at 80°. I mainly need a thermostat to make sure his basking temp stays in the correct range when my boyfriend & I are both at work (evenings--both work part-time) & can't check it every few hours. Since changing out the 100 watt incandescent spot basking bulb with a 100 watt halogen basking spot bulb last Sunday the CHE hasn't been needed at all during the day but you never know.

My daughters are 12 & 14, willing to replace his salad when it dries out & will mess with the dubias to feed him if I pay them ? but I'm not sure I trust them to handle temperature control. I don't want my little pancake getting too cold while we're not home. I imagine he'd probably be ok if his basking spot dropped under 105° but stayed above 98° or so but I don't want to risk it.

 

[CooperDragon]

Those are on/off thermostats so they will be better suited for controlling overnight heat or supplemental heat from a ceramic heat emitter. Dimming thermostats are needed for basking lights so they don't keep flicking on and off all day. The thermostat is a bit of a luxury item really. I'd invest in a high quality UVB light first, and certainly stash an emergency fund before getting one.

You can get a lamp dimmer for around $15 at the hardware store. They are manual but will work on halogen and most incandescent bulbs. You can also use an adjustable lamp stand to raise/lower the basking light to fine tune temps. You just have to keep checking periodically with a temp gun or keep a probe on the basking and cool surfaces.

The cheap manual outlet timers are what I use for the UVB light and you can certainly use them for the basking lights too. I like the grounded dual outlet ones. There are also power strips available that have built in on/off timers that would work well. You don't need anything too advanced for basic on/off scheduling.

 

[reereejugs]

Those are on/off thermostats so they will be better suited for controlling overnight heat or supplemental heat from a ceramic heat emitter. Dimming thermostats are needed for basking lights so they don't keep flicking on and off all day. The thermostat is a bit of a luxury item really. I'd invest in a high quality UVB light first, and certainly stash an emergency fund before getting one.

You can get a lamp dimmer for around $15 at the hardware store. They are manual but will work on halogen and most incandescent bulbs. You can also use an adjustable lamp stand to raise/lower the basking light to fine tune temps. You just have to keep checking periodically with a temp gun or keep a probe on the basking and cool surfaces.

The cheap manual outlet timers are what I use for the UVB light and you can certainly use them for the basking lights too. I like the grounded dual outlet ones. There are also power strips available that have built in on/off timers that would work well. You don't need anything too advanced for basic on/off scheduling.

I have a high quality UVB Its a t5 Reptisun 10.0 in a high output Reptisun reflector hood & it reaches over 3/4 of the way across the tank. When I build a bigger enclosure later on I'm going to add a second t5 light & fixture.

I haven't had to use the CHE at all during the day for the past few days since I switched the 100 watt incandescent basking light for a 100 watt halogen basking light. I was thinking maybe I could put all the actual lighting on day/night timers (I need 4 plugins so probably 2 of the cheap 2 outlet deals). Then maybe I could run the CHE thru the thermostat cranked all the way up at all times so it would kick on on it's own when the lights go out at night/if needed throughout the day & kick back off once the lights heat the tank up in the morning? Would that work?

 

[CooperDragon]

Yeah you can put the lights on a mechanical timer and it will work just fine. One of the basic on/off or pulse thermostats will work for the CHE too. I set my heat projector (similar to a CHE) to kick on when the temps go below 70 and turn off when the temps are above 73 overnight. The probe sits on the cool side floor. The range throughout the tank at night usually stays between 68-73 or so.