Some heating advice? Winter is coming.

[Allthingsterrarium]

Hello everybody! It's been a little while since I've been on the forum. I just have a quick question about keeping my tarantula warm. I live in Wisconsin and for those who don't know, a Wisconsin winter is like something out of Norse mythology. By the end of October it's not impossible there will be some snow on the ground and it's already dropping into the low 40s and upper 30s. Soon it's going to be well below freezing and my tarantula lives in my room which at the moment is fairly warm but it gets much cooler in the winter. The problem is that my tarantula is currently living in one of those plastic critter keepers that are about a foot or so in length and maybe six inches wide because he's still a little small to go into the permanent habitat I have set up for him which I could easily heat. I'm not going to put him in there until he has molted one or two more times and I doubt he'll do that by the time the winter weather comes. Here is my main problem, I'm afraid to put a heating pad under it because I feel for one thing it will get too hot or worse it might melt the plastic and I also worry about using a heat emitter or one of those invisible purple or red night bulbs for the same reason, even if they are low wattage. I do have an idea though. My chameleon who also lives in my room has both lights and a heat emitter to keep him warm and I wonder if I could keep my critter keeper warm enough for my tarantula by placing it near the chameleon habitat or indirectly near the heat emitter. What do you guys think? What should I do? There isn't much time left.

 

[Chubbs]

Space heater or some type of portable heater. Just keep it a good distance away from the enclosure. As long as the room itself is warm then it'll be fine.

 

[Allthingsterrarium]

Space heater or some type of portable heater. Just keep it a good distance away from the enclosure. As long as the room itself is warm then it'll be fine.

Excellent Idea! I'll see what I can find

 

[spidey noob]

if u can afford to run a space heater then thats a good way to do it !!!
u can use a heat mat if u like but there are a couple of things u should no, firstly u should never put a heat mat under a Ts enclosure they should be put on the side or back !!! u must also have a thermostat attached to it. as for putting it next to your chameleon viv that may be do able but it would probaly have to be on top of it !!! i would sugest putting a thermomiter on top of your viv to check what the temps are like first though.
(DO NOT !!! just put your Ts enclosure up there as temps could be to high)

 

[Entity]

i use a space heater with a thermostat for the whole room. way easier safer and dont have to worry about cooking ur spiders. and as for the expense...u gotta pay to play sometimes.

 

[Therasoid]

Space heaters are the most used and preferred by most keepers. However, I only use heater that are U.L. listed, higher cost but better and safer than others on the market.
Of the many types available today, I use ceramic heaters most. My oil filled, DeLonghi, is used during January & February when temps are in the 10-0 degree range. If you have problems with humidity in your residence an oil filled is best. Its a radiant heat and doesn't dry out the air as quickly as "milk house" heaters.
As spideynoob stated, a heat mat on the side, controlled by a thermostat is an option. Flex a Watt makes excellent flat heat mats in a variety of sizes and wattages. I use them on my roach colony's tank and a 20 gallon tank that houses sling enclosures kept at 85 degrees ( +/-1degree ).

 

[Allthingsterrarium]

Thank you everybody, I've weighed the options and I don't think I have too much room up there for a space heater, besides, my dog would knock it over. I think I'm going to go with a small heat mat on the side and a thermostat. The room is staying reasonably warm so I think see how he does with the heat mat and if he really needs additional heating after a month or two I'll will indeed get a space heater and put it in the basement for him.

 

[Chubbs]

Thank you everybody, I've weighed the options and I don't think I have too much room up there for a space heater, besides, my dog would knock it over. I think I'm going to go with a small heat mat on the side and a thermostat. The room is staying reasonably warm so I think see how he does with the heat mat and if he really needs additional heating after a month or two I'll will indeed get a space heater and put it in the basement for him.

Heat mats can result in a cooked tarantula just an fyi.

 

[Allthingsterrarium]

Heat mats can result in a cooked tarantula just an fyi.

Oh.......crud. Well in that case looks like I'll need to look around for some kind of heater for the room. Might even move him to a warmer room for a while.

 

[Chubbs]

Some people will disagree, but yeah I feel that the best way to heat them is simply to heat up the room itself.

 

[spidey noob]

@Allthingsterrarium
what your looking for is an ambient temp !!! (regardless of what heating eliment u use ) i would like to point something out though, the best way to keep Ts is to have an ambient temp through out the enclosure rangeing from 26c (on one side) to 24c (on the other side) of the enclosure so the Ts can regulate there own temps if they feel the need to do so ! (this cant be achived if u heat the whole room)

P.S this is just imo ! there is nothing wrong with the advice others have given u

 

[Entity]

@Allthingsterrarium
what your looking for is an ambient temp !!! (regardless of what heating eliment u use ) i would like to point something out though, the best way to keep Ts is to have an ambient temp through out the enclosure rangeing from 26c (on one side) to 24c (on the other side) of the enclosure so the Ts can regulate there own temps if they feel the need to do so ! (this cant be achived if u heat the whole room)

P.S this is just imo ! there is nothing wrong with the advice others have given u

Yeah but in the wild the ambient temp is the same in the area they r in. They cant just move to the left a little bit and get a few degrees cooler.

 

[spidey noob]

@entitity
(quote)
Yeah but in the wild the ambient temp is the same in the area they r in. They cant just move to the left a little bit and get a few degrees cooler

i get what u are saying
Ts in nature do live in areas where it can reach high temps (30c +) during the day, with night temps dropping down to 20c, but there are afew varibles i would like to point out that i feel should be taken into account.
1,Ts are nocturnal, so they will never be out during the day when temps are up ! (only at night when its cooler)
2, all Ts naturaly burrow in the wild, now the temps in there burrow will be a lot lower than they are out side !
so yes in the wild the ambient temp is the same in the area they r in, but the trantulas are never directly in that heat, there always a few degrees cooler down in there burrows.

 

[Denny Dee]

I use a whole room space heater but before I got smart financially I used to use individual heat mats on the enclosure. Personally, I have never had a "cooked" T but I assume it is a risk as many on the forum have a concern about it. As long as you leave plenty of room in the tank for the spider to walk away from the heat to cool off, you would be fine. A thermostat control would be a nice insurance policy.

 

[Roo]

I use heat cables to keep the local area of the snakes/spiders in a general temperature. Then I'll use a mini heat mat to slightly increase the local temperature for species that need a much higher than 30'c temp. I use a laser thermometer to make sure.. They aren't as expensive as they sound.

 

[AnOriginalName]

Is it ok to put a blanket over my tarantula's terrarium at night to keep it warm? I don't cover the entire cage so that it can have air.

 

[MassExodus]

Is it ok to put a blanket over my tarantula's terrarium at night to keep it warm? I don't cover the entire cage so that it can have air.

Perfectly fine, as long as theres ventilation your spider will like it even better covered up.