Do T's stay in premolt longer in cold temperatures?

[holyshietbiscuits]

I have 2 inch sized slings in premolt. They refused to eat around the end of November. Never really expected sling premolts to last this long for slings. Temperatures here are around 10°C to 15°C, possibly colder at night.

 

[MassExodus]

10 degrees Celsius is too cold for them, especially slings. Id heat it up to 70 F at least, at all times.

 

[Tomoran]

What species are the slings?

The short answer is yes...they will sometimes continue to eat with cooler temps, but it seems as if it takes longer between molts. Their metabolisms slow down more the cooler it gets. Some species experience colder temps in their natural habitats and will stop eating/molting during the colder winter months. My Aphonopelma species, for example, stop eating around October and start up again in April when it starts to warm up. I've noticed my G. rosea and G. pulchripes also stop eating once it gets cooler (and drier) in my home. My G. pulchripes once went from October until May without eating.

@MassExodus is right; although they can tolerate lower temps, you'll want to find a warmer corner in your home to keep them in. 10-15 is a quite cold for any length of time. I wouldn't expect them to do much eating or growing at those temps. Are these the temps in your home?

 

[holyshietbiscuits]

What species are the slings?

The short answer is yes...they will sometimes continue to eat with cooler temps, but it seems as if it takes longer between molts. Their metabolisms slow down more the cooler it gets. Some species experience colder temps in their natural habitats and will stop eating/molting during the colder winter months. My Aphonopelma species, for example, stop eating around October and start up again in April when it starts to warm up. I've noticed my G. rosea and G. pulchripes also stop eating once it gets cooler (and drier) in my home. My G. pulchripes once went from October until May without eating.

@MassExodus is right; although they can tolerate lower temps, you'll want to find a warmer corner in your home to keep them in. 10-15 is a quite cold for any length of time. I wouldn't expect them to do much eating or growing at those temps. Are these the temps in your home?

Woah those are some long fasting periods. Both of the slings are G. Pulchripes. Yeah, these are the current temps at home and I have no way of increasing room temperatures. These temperatures will last until the end of Febuary, by then it'll increase to around 20°C. Is there any way I can keep them warmer?

 

[Tomoran]

Woah those are some long fasting periods. Both of the slings are G. Pulchripes. Yeah, these are the current temps at home and I have no way of increasing room temperatures. These temperatures will last until the end of Febuary, by then it'll increase to around 20°C. Is there any way I can keep them warmer?

Yeah, I was convinced for a bit that they were in premolt, then feared that they might be dead. Amazingly, they both came out and started eating again!

I mean, they would possibly experience temps that cold in the wild, but that is quite low. This would be one of those situations where supplementary heat is needed.

The safest way to do it would be to use a space heater to raise the temperature in that room a few degrees. Most have thermostats so you can set them to the temp you need.

If that's not an option, folks have success using heat mats. In this case, you wouldn't put the heat mat on (or UNDER) the enclosures themselves. You can mount one on a piece of foam (keeps the heat going one direction) and affix it to a wall behind the shelf the enclosures sit on. Then, you can carefully place the enclosures so that they only get a bit of heat from the device.

Another trick is to get an aquarium or larger enclosure and mount the heat mat to the side of it. You can then use the mat to heat the inside of the aquarium a couple degrees. You can then place the two small sling enclosures inside this larger one. If you use this trick, you can also put an open container of water in there to keep things from drying out too much.

I hope this helps!

 

[holyshietbiscuits]

Yeah, I was convinced for a bit that they were in premolt, then feared that they might be dead. Amazingly, they both came out and started eating again!

I mean, they would possibly experience temps that cold in the wild, but that is quite low. This would be one of those situations where supplementary heat is needed.

The safest way to do it would be to use a space heater to raise the temperature in that room a few degrees. Most have thermostats so you can set them to the temp you need.

If that's not an option, folks have success using heat mats. In this case, you wouldn't put the heat mat on (or UNDER) the enclosures themselves. You can mount one on a piece of foam (keeps the heat going one direction) and affix it to a wall behind the shelf the enclosures sit on. Then, you can carefully place the enclosures so that they only get a bit of heat from the device.

Another trick is to get an aquarium or larger enclosure and mount the heat mat to the side of it. You can then use the mat to heat the inside of the aquarium a couple degrees. You can then place the two small sling enclosures inside this larger one. If you use this trick, you can also put an open container of water in there to keep things from drying out too much.

I hope this helps!

Thank you very much. All is noted~