Thermostat socket for a reptile vivarium

Updated: October 2026

A heat mat with no thermostat does not run a bit warm.

A heat mat with no thermostat does not run a bit warm. Keepers on reptile forums report unstatted mats climbing past 40 °C, and the usual advice on those threads is that any heat source needs a stat and a second thermometer. A thermostat socket for a reptile vivarium can be that stat only for a non-light heater that sits inside its wattage. It is a mains on and off plug. It is not a dimmer for a basking lamp, and a stuck relay can leave a mat on. This page does not give species temperatures, and it does not set a greenhouse frost figure. The twelve-row table stays on the thermostat plug socket comparison. Listings were compared in October 2026. We did not run a lab test. A qualifying purchase through our links can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Our top picks

Badge	Product	Outputs	Load	Probe	Note	Price	Offer
Best overall	KETOTEK KETOTEK KT3100 thermostat plug	One socket	13 A / 230 V in the bullets	3 m NTC 10K	8.0	about £19.99	View offer
Alternative	Inkbird Inkbird ITC-C216T thermostat socket	One socket	10 A / 230 V, 2300 W	IP67; length not stated	6.5	about £25.99	View offer
Alternative	KETOTEK KETOTEK KT99pro dual thermostat	Two relays	10 A each	Two waterproof NTC sensors	4.8	about £39.99	View offer

Best overall

KETOTEK KETOTEK KT3100 thermostat plug

8.0/10about £19.99

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Alternative

Inkbird Inkbird ITC-C216T thermostat socket

6.5/10about £25.99

View offer

Alternative

KETOTEK KETOTEK KT99pro dual thermostat

4.8/10about £39.99

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On this page

1.What a plug-in socket can switch
2.Why 13 A is the wrong boast for a 300 W mat
3.Two zones
4.If it will not cut out

What a plug-in socket can switch

These plugs close a relay or open it. The probe crosses a setpoint, the socket goes live, and the mat or the ceramic sees full mains until the probe says stop. That suits a heat mat, and it can suit a ceramic heater that emits no light, which is the split Evolution Reptiles draws: on and off for mats and non-light ceramics, dimming for basking lamps, pulse for ceramics that want short bursts rather than a hard flicker. A lamp that produces light is damaged by that hard on and off, and HabiStat’s Mat Stat pages say the same thing in fewer words: not for light bulbs, because on and off flicker kills lamps. Nothing in this comparison dims. There is no pulse mode hiding in F01. F01 is a timer that, on the KT3100 and the Inkbird ITC-C216T, drops the probe out of the decision. If you need a basking lamp, you need a dimming thermostat, which is a different product. A wide catalogue range such as −40 °C to 120 °C does not make a plug a better vivarium stat. Specialist mat stats are sold with a narrow band, often about 16 °C to 34 °C on the HabiStat Mat Stat. You still prove the cycle. Evolution’s point is that a stat which is too small for the wattage can cause a fire, and that you always check with a thermometer. The how to set a thermostat plug page is the start-below-stop rule. Do not borrow a species number from a care sheet and type it in blind.

Why 13 A is the wrong boast for a 300 W mat

A typical heat mat is a few tens of watts up to a few hundred, not a 3 kW heater. HabiStat’s Mat Stat is sold around 300 W, and the Classic Pro Mat Stat around 450 W, at shop prices near £34 to £37 for the smaller unit. Both are on and off controllers with a waterproof probe, and both say they are not for light-emitting sources. A 300 W mat at 230 V is about 1.3 A. A plug that shouts 13 A or 16 A is not more safety for that mat. The danger is a relay that fails closed, or a probe in the wrong place, not a shortage of amps. The Inkbird ITC-C216T at least states 10 A and 2,300 W, which is under a 13 A socket and still far above a 300 W mat. The KT3100 states 13 A in the bullets and then spoils the page with a 68,770 W attribute you should ignore. The Vaileal writes 10 A and 3,950 W in one bullet. Those clashes are why the buying guide tells you to reconcile the load before the brand. For a mat, reconcile it downwards. If the listing never states amps, as the Lotvic bullets do not, you do not know what the relay was sold to switch. The probe goes where the heat is, on the mat or between the mat and the surface the animal uses, following the mat maker’s sheet, and not buried where the animal can lie on a bare sensor. A waterproof claim applies to the probe on some listings, not to the plug body. The Inkbird says IP67 and does not state a length. The KT99pro says two waterproof NTC sensors. A Lotvic review in this file had a vivarium reading about 37 °C on one meter and about 23 °C on another. That gap is why the second thermometer stays.

Testsieger

KETOTEK KETOTEK KT3100 thermostat plug

8.0/10about £19.99

View offer

Two zones

One socket controls one load. If you have two animals, or a mat and a second non-light heater, a single plug will chase one probe and leave the other uncontrolled. The KETOTEK KT99pro is the only dual row in this set: two 10 A outputs, two probes, £39.99, 3.3 from 24 amazon.co.uk reviews. The bullets write 220 V AC. UK mains are nominally 230 V, and the file does not show a 230 V test of that unit. A cooling delay of 0 to 5 minutes is listed for compressor-style loads. A heat mat should not be waiting on a fridge delay while it overshoots. One reviewer said a heat mat stayed on above 37 °C with a 30 °C setting. Another alleges a burn to a royal python. A third praises dual control for two snakes. All three sit inside a 24-review score of 3.3. That is not a top pick. It is the only way, inside this twelve, to have two probes. If you use it, you watch both cut-outs with your own thermometers before anyone is in the enclosure. The single-socket KT3100 is 4.4 from 508 and still only one output. A greenhouse plug with a long probe is still one relay. A HabiStat-style mat stat is the specialist context when you want a 300 W or 450 W on and off unit that already says it is not a lamp. It is not a row in this comparison.

If it will not cut out

Unplug the mat at the wall if the temperature keeps climbing past the stop figure. Do not wait to see whether the next cycle is better while an animal is on the warm side. A stuck-closed relay is the failure these reviews are describing, on the KT99pro and, in a different room, on a Vaileal unit that switched on and would not switch off. Move the animal to a safe enclosure that is not being heated by the failed plug, then decide whether the controller goes back. Check the obvious setup errors once everyone is safe, so you do not condemn a plug that was in timer mode. F01 to F04 ignores the probe. A probe lying in free air while the mat heats a floor will let the mat get much hotter than the screen, because the screen is reading the room. A probe trapped under substrate in a hot spot will cut out early and leave the rest cold. Neither mistake is a species number. This page will not give you one. After any replacement, run an empty enclosure through a full on and a full off against a second thermometer before you put the animal back. A wide-range greenhouse socket can switch a mat if the wattage is inside the rating, the probe is on the heat, and you accept on and off rather than dimming. It cannot run a basking lamp, it cannot be two zones unless it is the KT99pro, and it cannot be left as the only instrument in the vivarium. If the plug smells, softens, or has already failed to open, it is finished.

Common questions

Can this plug run a heat mat?

Yes, if the mat is a non-light heater within the wattage you trust, and you place the probe on the heat the mat makes. A 300 W mat is about 1.3 A, so a 13 A headline is not the feature that matters. Watch one cycle with a second thermometer. On and off is what these sockets do. A mat stat sold at 300 W or 450 W is the specialist version of the same idea, and it is not one of the twelve ASINs.

Can the same plug run a basking lamp?

No. On and off switching flickers a light-emitting bulb and shortens its life. HabiStat says the Mat Stat is not for light bulbs. Evolution Reptiles points dimming stats at basking lamps and pulse stats at ceramics. Buy that kind of controller. Do not look for a dimming mode on the KT3100 or the KT99pro.

Where does the probe go on a mat?

Where the mat’s heat arrives, as the mat instructions describe, not in the free air of the room and not where the animal can rest on a bare sensor. A greenhouse hang at half height is the wrong picture. If one thermometer reads about 37 °C and another reads about 23 °C, as in a Lotvic vivarium review, believe the disagreement and fix the placement or the probe before you trust either screen.

Do I need two sockets for two animals?

You need two controlled loads if each enclosure has its own heater. A single plug has one relay. The KT99pro is the two-probe option in this set, at 3.3 from 24 reviews, with a stuck-mat report and a burn allegation you should read. Two separate mat stats are the other route, and they are outside this table.

What if the mat does not switch off?

Unplug it. A KT99pro reviewer reported a mat still on above 37 °C against a 30 °C setting. That is the pattern to treat as urgent, not as a calibration quirk to watch overnight. Check afterwards whether you were in a timer mode, and whether the probe was reading the room instead of the mat. Keep a second thermometer in the setup from the start.

Is a greenhouse plug with a −40 to 120 °C range a better vivarium stat?

No. The wide span is a catalogue range on plugs such as the KT3100. A mat stat’s narrower window is aimed at enclosure temperatures, and this page still will not name a species target. Use the greenhouse plug on a mat only as an on and off switch within its real wattage, with the probe on the mat and a thermometer beside it. Lamps and frost-protection greenhouses are different jobs.

Best thermostat plug socket