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Heating an enclosure?

Kat P.Chartrand

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Location
manitoba, CA
Everyone says that you shouldn't use a heat mat that it can cook your tarantula but im in a basement that doesn't heat well so it gets cold to the point I've resulted to using my heating pad occasionally for her. I've thought about it and a reptile heat mat with a thermostat so I can control the heat should work but I don't know where to put it. And im not able to move her to another room and I do have three space heaters.
 

m0lsx

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If they removed the word mat & used a different word instead, maybe heat mats would get a better reputation. As the biggest problem is people putting them under the T. If you feel you really need extra heat, then tape the mat to the back or the side of the enclosure. Give your T some graduation of heat & if possible keep it above the substrate.

Last winter I used some heat cables, which allows a very narrow area of extra warmth to be shared around several enclosures. The problem with that is a thermostat is pointless, as a long cable gives warmth to lots of enclosures. I used the cable close too, but not touching the base of the enclosures.
 

Revant

Member
Messages
26
Location
California
Do you happen to have a styrofoam box large enough for your enclosure(s) to fit in? I stack a few loose rectangles of styrofoam at the bottom of such a box to elevate the tank(s) held within. Heaters are square underneath each enclosure. In my case I have been using mini RH-7 Heaters (I believe the smallest and "weakest" of the Reptitherm models.) Place a few old towels/blankets on top when its real cold, take them off when its not. Temperatures in my tanks are constantly kept at 75 degrees Fahrenheit even when the rest of the room feels like my toes are about ready to fall off.
 

Phobik1

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3 Year Member
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278
Location
Los Angeles
I second mOLsx. Tape a heat pat to the side of the enclosure and above the substrate. Your probe will show you how well the cage is heated and you can adjust the mat accordingly.

Ya know. If you have a heat pad used by humans for muscle pain or what have you, you could also use that safely by making sure you shut it off 8 to 12 hrs at a time. It has its own heat control dial and is designed for being held next to your skin so it doesnt get crazy hot.
 

Vermis

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Messages
136
Location
UK
I thought I'd resurrect this topic than react to a newcomer's question and muddy the issue.

As the biggest problem is people putting them under the T.

Since I started paying attention to online invert keeping again, I've seen people react to heatmats like someone admitted heating their Ts with a blowtorch. Is this the reason? Do people still put heat mats under the container? Shoot, back when I was a noob, 'side not bottom' was one of the first things I had drummed into me.

I don't know what I'd do without heatmats. It's good to know that Ts do nicely at centrally-heated room temp, but for me a comfortable room temperature might be somewhere about a balmy 16°C/61°F, and I don't have a seperate T room to heat. What I used to have was a makeshift cabinet with two big 40W mats stuck to the back, and a mat stat controlling them. Anything I set in front of them surely had a thermal gradient, and usually congregated towards the warm side.
These days I have a shelf on a billy bookcase, and a sheet of insulating foam with two 15W heat strips stuck to it. No stat! They cover 3/4 of the back of the shelf, warming half of the back of my one T's container, among other things. This irish heatwave that Phototoxin mentioned elsewhere is one of the few situations where I feel comfortable turning them off. Ironically, the current ambient temperature around the shelf - 27°C/81°F - is a degree or three higher than they can usually manage...
 

DustyD

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I have used a reptile heating pad attached to a piece of glass and put it at the back of my makeshift shelf enclosure. I can move the individual enclosures to adjust the heat levels depending on external temps. My tarantulas seem to like it and I have seen all four out at the same time. I don't use it all the time. For me the real test will come in the winter.
 

m0lsx

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I thought I'd resurrect this topic than react to a newcomer's question and muddy the issue.



Since I started paying attention to online invert keeping again, I've seen people react to heatmats like someone admitted heating their Ts with a blowtorch. Is this the reason? Do people still put heat mats under the container? Shoot, back when I was a noob, 'side not bottom' was one of the first things I had drummed into me.

Yes some people do still put heatmats on the bottom. Some people buy from pet or reptile shops who know nothing about T's, so get no advice, plus far too many on the fb groups are very judgemental & not open to debating anything. So are not good places to learn.

In amateur radio I was taught & still believe. The only stupid question, is the one you did not ask. As a radio amateur I took a really stiff exam, only to be handed a licence that states it is for "self learning." Sadly to many online self-appointed experts are only interested in either clicks on their videos / posts or in feeling superior & neither are good for T's or the hobby.
 

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