Help: Heating dilemma.

[avemonsters]

I just got my very first T's, a G.Pulchra and the breeder gave me 3 sling Pulchripes as a bonus. I've had them for about 3 days now, and although initially I thought this was going to be uncomplicated, many problems have arised.
The main one being:
I live in Los Angeles, California. During winter, at night, it can be in the 40's. My house does NOT have a central heating system, and my landlord is super penny pinching about my use of the wall heater and he will make passive aggressive comments to me when he hears the unit has been running for a while.
I got a fan space heater (electric) as a quick solution for now and have them in my bathroom (which is free of chemicals, I made sure of it). However because I live ALONE I am terrified of leaving the electrical space heater on when I'm not home or say, if I have to go out of town for a weekend because sometimes work requires me to do so. I don't want to leave and have a space heater running unsupervised.
What is the best, safest, non-hazardous way of keeping my T's warm when I'm not home?
Any ideas? I know this sounds complicated but I would appreciate any expert tips because I'm losing my mind over this haha. I really wanna enjoy the experience but I'm very stressed.

 

[Casey K.]

I just got my very first T's, a G.Pulchra and the breeder gave me 3 sling Pulchripes as a bonus. I've had them for about 3 days now, and although initially I thought this was going to be uncomplicated, many problems have arised.
The main one being:
I live in Los Angeles, California. During winter, at night, it can be in the 40's. My house does NOT have a central heating system, and my landlord is super penny pinching about my use of the wall heater and he will make passive aggressive comments to me when he hears the unit has been running for a while.
I got a fan space heater (electric) as a quick solution for now and have them in my bathroom (which is free of chemicals, I made sure of it). However because I live ALONE I am terrified of leaving the electrical space heater on when I'm not home or say, if I have to go out of town for a weekend because sometimes work requires me to do so. I don't want to leave and have a space heater running unsupervised.
What is the best, safest, non-hazardous way of keeping my T's warm when I'm not home?
Any ideas? I know this sounds complicated but I would appreciate any expert tips because I'm losing my mind over this haha. I really wanna enjoy the experience but I'm very stressed.

I would use a heat mat.....I never recommend them but in your case I would. Instead of putting it under the terrarium I would stick it to the side. Also, if you can use Uniheat heat packs. Duration of heat varies. Activate the heat pack, wrap it in paper towel and place it on top of the enclosure. It will heat it up- but not excessively. Its a small fix to your issue. I would NEVER use a heat lamp no matter the circumstances. Hope this helps.

 

[avemonsters]

I would use a heat mat.....I never recommend them but in your case I would. Instead of putting it under the terrarium I would stick it to the side. Also, if you can use Uniheat heat packs. Duration of heat varies. Activate the heat pack, wrap it in paper towel and place it on top of the enclosure. It will heat it up- but not excessively. Its a small fix to your issue. I would NEVER use a heat lamp no matter the circumstances. Hope this helps.

thank you for the tip <3 are heat mats safe to leave unsupervised for a while? I've never used one of these.

 

[Casey K.]

thank you for the tip <3 are heat mats safe to leave unsupervised for a while? I've never used one of these.

You can buy them in different sizes. I would start off with the smallest one. Just use them while you are at work. When you come home, unplug them and use your heater.

 

[Kalio77]

You tube, the tarantula collective has a great video on heating slings. Hope this helps

 

[Stan Schultz]

I have never been able to understand why people fret so much about their pet tarantulas' temperatures. Are we projecting our homeothermic weaknesses onto them? Or are we simply not able to fathom an animal that can tolerate such low temperatures, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding? (There are literally thousands of other kinds of creatures on this planet that can tolerate brief cold spells, and even more kinds that can live permanently at near freezing temperatures.)

First off, visit and read Temperature. Then, if you're still really concinced that you absolutely MUST fret over your tarantulas' temperatures, and depending on the number of tarantulas you're keeping and the sizes of their cages or housing, consider keeping them in an environmental case. This can be anything from a large aquarium to a modified, used, 16 cubic foot refrigerator, or any other sort of container that will tend to hold warmth internally. Insulation is optional but not a bad idea.

Depending on the size of your environmental case, you can use anything from a small light bulb to full blown heating mats as a heat source. There are several immutable rules, however, that you violate at your and your pets' peril:

1) Always use a thermostat to control the temperature! Need I mention that the thermostat must be inside the environment case with the tarantulas to be useful?

2) Never, ever allow the tarantulas' primary cages or containers to come into direct contact with the heat source! Actually, "not even close" would be an even better rule.

3) Unquestionably, it is almost always better to allow your tarantulas to endure cooler temperatures than it is to risk cooking them with a heat source!

A little anecdote to illustrate the situation: I am currently living in a little RV park just outside Zapata, Texas. I'm within a mile or two of the Rio Grande River and Old Mexico, almost as far south as you can get in the continental USA. I have a little Rio Grande gold tarantula (DLS = ~2") living in its 6" deep burrow in my yard.

Recently, two cold fronts came through, one right after the other, and night before last the air temperatures dropped to 29 degree F just before dawn. I had frost on the hood of my car. The local residents thought they were going to freeze to death (many do not have actual heating plants in their homes).

My little buddy outside was laughing and partying all night long! Well, maybe not quite. But it had pulled the silk veil away from its burrow's entrance this afternoon, hoping for a grasshopper for dinner!

Temperature is one of the last things you have to worry about with tarantulas.

Stop fretting so. Enjoy your little eight-legged wonders!

 

[Aracnoenthusiast]

It's always preferable to heat the room the t is in as opposed to directly heating enclosures. I'd go with Casey's advice for short term. As a more permanent solution, maybe find an apartment that will allow you to run heat enough to maintain standard room temps of around 70f. I sure wouldn't like a landlord freezing me

 

[ilovebrachys]

I just got my very first T's, a G.Pulchra and the breeder gave me 3 sling Pulchripes as a bonus. I've had them for about 3 days now, and although initially I thought this was going to be uncomplicated, many problems have arised.
The main one being:
I live in Los Angeles, California. During winter, at night, it can be in the 40's. My house does NOT have a central heating system, and my landlord is super penny pinching about my use of the wall heater and he will make passive aggressive comments to me when he hears the unit has been running for a while.
I got a fan space heater (electric) as a quick solution for now and have them in my bathroom (which is free of chemicals, I made sure of it). However because I live ALONE I am terrified of leaving the electrical space heater on when I'm not home or say, if I have to go out of town for a weekend because sometimes work requires me to do so. I don't want to leave and have a space heater running unsupervised.
What is the best, safest, non-hazardous way of keeping my T's warm when I'm not home?
Any ideas? I know this sounds complicated but I would appreciate any expert tips because I'm losing my mind over this haha. I really wanna enjoy the experience but I'm very stressed.

I agree with @Casey K. about using a heat mat although I would advise using it with a thermostat as the thermostat regulates the heat mat to the required temperature and cuts the heat mats power to stop it from overheating so it's constantly regulating it .. Its the safest way to use a heat mat

 

[Gizalba]

I have never been able to understand why people fret so much about their pet tarantulas' temperatures. Are we projecting our homeothermic weaknesses onto them? Or are we simply not able to fathom an animal that can tolerate such low temperatures, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding? (There are literally thousands of other kinds of creatures on this planet that can tolerate brief cold spells, and even more kinds that can live permanently at near freezing temperatures.)

First off, visit and read Temperature. Then, if you're still really concinced that you absolutely MUST fret over your tarantulas' temperatures, and depending on the number of tarantulas you're keeping and the sizes of their cages or housing, consider keeping them in an environmental case. This can be anything from a large aquarium to a modified, used, 16 cubic foot refrigerator, or any other sort of container that will tend to hold warmth internally. Insulation is optional but not a bad idea.

Depending on the size of your environmental case, you can use anything from a small light bulb to full blown heating mats as a heat source. There are several immutable rules, however, that you violate at your and your pets' peril:

1) Always use a thermostat to control the temperature! Need I mention that the thermostat must be inside the environment case with the tarantulas to be useful?

2) Never, ever allow the tarantulas' primary cages or containers to come into direct contact with the heat source! Actually, "not even close" would be an even better rule.

3) Unquestionably, it is almost always better to allow your tarantulas to endure cooler temperatures than it is to risk cooking them with a heat source!

A little anecdote to illustrate the situation: I am currently living in a little RV park just outside Zapata, Texas. I'm within a mile or two of the Rio Grande River and Old Mexico, almost as far south as you can get in the continental USA. I have a little Rio Grande gold tarantula (DLS = ~2") living in its 6" deep burrow in my yard.

Recently, two cold fronts came through, one right after the other, and night before last the air temperatures dropped to 29 degree F just before dawn. I had frost on the hood of my car. The local residents thought they were going to freeze to death (many do not have actual heating plants in their homes).

My little buddy outside was laughing and partying all night long! Well, maybe not quite. But it had pulled the silk veil away from its burrow's entrance this afternoon, hoping for a grasshopper for dinner!

Temperature is one of the last things you have to worry about with tarantulas.

Stop fretting so. Enjoy your little eight-legged wonders!

This confuses me. I definitely agree with '2) Never, ever allow the tarantulas' primary cages or containers to come into direct contact with the heat source! Actually, "not even close" would be an even better rule.'

However I can't bring myself to not worry about temperature at all. I can understand that room temperature of about 21 degrees C doesn't need to be messed with and it would be better not to add an artificial heat source then (although... surely central heating is an artificial heat source too - would it be better to turn it off?). But surely it is better/healthier for the T, to roughly simulate their natural environment? So although in really hot places the temperature can still drop very low at night or at certain times of the year and I understand they can 'tolerate' this, I can't see why keeping them at such a low temperature all the time would be good for them when they are from places that are regularly say, 28 degrees C during the day?

I am not saying you are wrong by the way - I don't have anywhere near enough experience to know what I'm talking about and it seems most experienced keepers agree with you, I am just genuinely confused by this and would like to understand.