Yay or Nay on the heating pad?

[April]

I have a 10 gallon tank with coco substrate. We keep the house at about 70-75 F. I've heard that heating pads can cause hot spots but also that a rose hair needs a warm environment. I've also read that it needs to be at about 70% humidity. How do I achieve this without the cage being too moist? And the lady at the pet store told me I need to spray her cage every so often just enough to barely moisten the substrate. Should I even bother??

 

[Christell Erasmus]

Hi there
Instead of misting you can put in a water dish with a marble inside to prevent drowning. You can use heating pads or panels or what works for me is a heating cable. but put it at the back of the enclosures so that there is no direct heat on the enclosure to prevent hot spots.

 

[April]

Hi there
Instead of misting you can put in a water dish with a marble inside to prevent drowning. You can use heating pads or panels or what works for me is a heating cable. but put it at the back of the enclosures so that there is no direct heat on the enclosure to prevent hot spots.

I have a water dish in her cage, but no stones. Is this same dish she will drink out of? And where can I get these cables and I'm assuming you can adjust the temperature on them?

 

[Christell Erasmus]

Yes it is the same dish she will drink out off. On the heating cables you cant adjust the temperature but the cable itself doesn't get very hot. I bought mine at my local pet store.

 

[April]

Yes it is the same dish she will drink out off. On the heating cables you cant adjust the temperature but the cable itself doesn't get very hot. I bought mine at my local pet store.

Are the stones to insure she doesn't drown?

 

[Nada]

at 70+ a heat source is not needed. The stones insure that feeders don't drown, but they're not needed, you just have to make sure you clean any dead feeders out of the water.
70% humidity is very wrong. They come from a desert and like it dry.

 

[Christell Erasmus]

Yes. but rather use marbles. Stones ares porous which can be a breading ground or bacteria. Glass marble will work better.

 

[Nada]

I personally use neither. all it does is make the tarantulas job harder. straight water is best in my opinion.

 

[Christell Erasmus]

April, Nada has a lot more experience than me. If you take his advice you cant go wrong

 

[Nada]

I wasn't saying you're wrong Christell. Glass stones are fine, I just don't use out of personal preference, and I like nice deep water.

 

[April]

at 70+ a heat source is not needed. The stones insure that feeders don't drown, but they're not needed, you just have to make sure you clean any dead feeders out of the water.
70% humidity is very wrong. They come from a desert and like it dry.

Nada, why am I reading everywhere about this high humidity that they're suppose to have? Another source is saying 75%-80% humidity. I know that you're from Chile and around South America so it seems odd for people to say that. Do you know why this is?

 

[Nada]

I'm not from Chile or SA, Im USA.
There's unfortunately a ton of bad info on tarantulas. Most people just equate all of South America as a tropic zone. This however is untrue. Chile is a desert, and that is where Rose's come from. If you read on forums and facebook groups, they all say similar.
Caresheets in regards to tarantulas are mostly useless.

 

[lazorkat]

i personally use heat pads on two of my arboreal tanks mine stick to the side they are a low heat source and i have a crystal thermometer on the glass by the heat pad to make sure it isant to hot both Ts with the pad seem to love it they are constantly on the side of the glass with the heat pad .. with my rosie i use a black heat lamp to keep her ten gallon tank in the 70s

 

[Sabeth]

It's unfortunate but pet shops and care sheets found on the 'Net are usually wrong. Every Rosie I've seen in a pet shop has been kept in a damp environment with wet sub, and not coincidentally every Rosie is either on top of its hide or stickied to the side of the cage. The Tarantula Keeper's Guide states that keeping a Rosie on wet sub is like being made to sleep in a wet bed.

Room temperature is fine for tarantulas, no guages or artificial heating needed except in extreme circumstances. Even in these cases I'd probably rather try to raise the room's temp with a plug-in heater than use heat pad, if possible. Since Rosies like it dry, no misting is necessary. An exception might be premolt, when a light misting once a day up to molting can slightly raise humidity to reduce the chances of molting trouble. Other than that, dry is best.

 

[Spidershed]

Chile is not a hot country, in fact it is not even a particularly warm country.

So any heating is definitely not needed.

Grammostola porteri/rosea AKA Chile rose hair come from an area just north of Santiago.

Here is the average weather for that area >>>>>> http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=47558&cityname=Santiago-Chile

 

[Steve and Alicia]

It seems like everyone has better luck then me with heat pads. Since I've gotten into the hobby 3 years ago I've been through 4 of them and they hardly even kept the glass warm above room temperature. Further more, with that being said if you put it on the side of your tank it wont keep the substrate warm. I had this problem with my scorpions. In my opinion they are a waste of money and if you need to heat your enclosure I would recommend using a ceramic heat emitter.

 

[thelegend0210]

It seems like everyone has better luck then me with heat pads. Since I've gotten into the hobby 3 years ago I've been through 4 of them and they hardly even kept the glass warm above room temperature. Further more, with that being said if you put it on the side of your tank it wont keep the substrate warm. I had this problem with my scorpions. In my opinion they are a waste of money and if you need to heat your enclosure I would recommend using a ceramic heat emitter.

I was advised from an experienced breeder here in Canada that heat pads under the tank are not a good idea, in the wild heat comes mostly from the Sun, and that typically tarantulas in go into the ground to cool off. So a heat lamp is best as it simulates the natural environment. But most are fine with the average room temp.