Keeping Ts cool in hot summer

[DustyD]

Early heat and anticipating how to keep things cooler in summer.

Today it was unusually warm at 84 F (29C) and Wednesday is predicted to be 90 F (32C) before dropping to high 60s and low 70s. Summers will be like 80s -90 s here in Maine.

It was hot enough that my two grammostolas pushed back their entrance blockades.

For summer i had planned on using ac from windows across the room, thereby also reducing humidity. It was 60 percent humidity in my room while 44 percent inside my enclosure I have protecting the individual enclosures.

I am away working two daytimes during the week and three nights.

I am wondering if frozen gelpacks covered in towels placed a distance from the Ts inside the larger enclosure might help keep things cool.
I have a small air purifier on the floor near the enclosure that pushes up cooler air and helps a bit.

Any thoughts? I may end up placing the whole enclosure in the mostly unfinished part of my cellar. It is a bit cooler down there, but out of the way and mostly used for storage and laundry.

 

[MBullock]

I think you're worrying too much. those temps you describe are just fine.

 

[DustyD]

Ok probably. Thanks I do that a lot. I think it got warm/hot enough recently to draw my G. Pulchripes out of hiding. And while i was overjoyed at seeing her for the first time in three weeks I did worry. She kept climbing the walls. Now she is back in hiding.

 

[Mygalomorphic]

The room my tarantulas are in frequently gets to 85F for days at a time in Summer and I have never had a problem. Conversely it dips into the low 60’s in Winter and they’ve all been fine then too. They are more temperature tolerant than we tend to think. Enjoy your Maine Summer!

 

[MBullock]

Ok probably. Thanks I do that a lot. I think it got warm/hot enough recently to draw my G. Pulchripes out of hiding. And while i was overjoyed at seeing her for the first time in three weeks I did worry. She kept climbing the walls. Now she is back in hiding.

IMO alot of the time they're confused by air-flow and are trying to 'peek' out of their 'burrow entrance' like they would in the wild, in nature they will pop out and hang out a few inches to a foot or two from the burrow, it's probably more-so them trying to enjoy the heat.

 

[DustyD]

Thanks for the support. I really do appreciate it! But with my compulsive worrying nature I likely will ignore it a while longer in favor of experimenting. Lol.

With outside temperatures recently dipping to 40 F at night and 50 F during the day (after being in the high 80s one day recently) and my overprotective nature heating up, I tried something.
I placed a small reptile heating pad on a much larger 8x10 pane of 3/32 glass and placed it in the larger enclosure housing my individual tarantula enclosures. I angled it such that my G. pulchripes and G. pulchra acrylic enclosures formed a triangle with the heater but were not touching the heating pad. They were close, perhaps 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch at the closest point. Both Ts hung on the walls nearby but did move from time to time. The temp on top of their enclosures a few inches away was about 73F.
I plan on getting a thermostate to better control the temperatures year round.

Oh, G. pulchripes molted last week and maybe is approaching 2" if not larger. She is still shy and heads for her den when i try to get a measurement. Two days after I found her molt, she ate 3 medium crickets or so i assume. I prekilled three medium crickets for pulchra and they were gone the next morning.