Best conditions to keep a poecilotheria regalis?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Dennis Nedry

Dennis Nedry

Arachnodemon
Joined
Oct 21, 2017
Messages
672
Chris LXXIX said:
I don't want to offend no one (please don't read this comment that way) but sometimes I wonder (I'm serious) exactly which kind of temperatures some of you people has in your 'T's room' or for that matter where you keep your arachnids
Click to expand...
Outside temperatures drop to less than 5 degrees Celsius in winter and over 45 degrees Celsius in summer, stays warmer/cooler than outside (ranged from 15-35 degrees C inside) and I've never had to heat/cool any of the inverts
 
Whitelightning777

Whitelightning777

Arachno-heretic
Joined
Feb 9, 2017
Messages
399
miss moxie said:
I was looking through his old posts and oh my god. I just made a connection. That TERRIBLE pet store I posted about, that kept scorpions and tarantulas on paper towels? I posted about it here: Ugh pet stores...



THAT is the same pet store! This guy KNOWINGLY donated 22 scorplings to that place!! Rick's fish and pet supply in Frederick, MD.
Click to expand...

Yes, sadly enough I did. That was before becoming fully aware of their shortcuts. Fortunately, the scorplings were sold off except for one or two kept by employees. The scorplings themselves were kept on the proper substrate and fed correctly.

Had I been more informed, I would've used the classifieds to sell them individually. Still, had they remained communal, the risk of cannibalism would've only increased so there wasn't any perfect answer. Those who did buy scorplings or get a free one in exchange for buying a proper enclosure have a captive bred disease free critter that will live a long time.

If you mail them out, they can get lost or injured that way either one at a time or all at once. They could also just be used as food for something else without myself being told about it. There are no perfect answers in an imperfect world.

When I purchased the Versicolor from Rick's, my original plan was to get a feeder roaches for the scorpion I already had. Upon arriving, he informed me that another collector had donated his entire collection because he could no longer keep them. I heard a rumour later that the guy went to jail and the girlfriend couldn't handle it but can't confirm that.
Of course, I paid t to much, got a crappy caresheet or two and had a crappy mantis cage that had less potential then I thought.

Somehow, Charlotte pulled through and now she is doing great. C versicolor Charlotte 1-25-18 1.jpg

EulersK said:
... seriously, man? :meh:

View attachment 264603

Beyond what looks like you actively trying to roast a sling, your setup looks absolutely absurd. You're preaching about a fire hazard with space heaters, and then you post this. I guarantee you that those lamp manufacturers would say that you're setting them up improperly.

I'm done here, your arguments have reached a level of absurdity that I can't handle. Suggesting that we buy a heater that is several hundred dollars shows that you're of the personality type that believes your opinion in infallible. I don't doubt that heat lamps can be used with tarantulas properly - but you are not using them properly.

With a setup like that, I'm not sure how you think people with hundreds of spiders manage.
Click to expand...

If you cranked up the power all the way, yes they'd be dangerous. The voltage is so limited that the components are warm to the touch.

Yes, it should be cosmetically improved, but if you can grasp and hold tightly any heating components, they pose zero hazards at distance. In fact, my tactical flashlight gets hotter at the highest setting.

The principal is to heat an area not just an enclosure. Taken individually, none of these would have much of an effect. It's the lack of a single point of origin that makes it work. The metallic wire shelves further de-localize any singular point of origin.

Yes, conversation to a cabinet would no doubt improve the engineering but 2 or 3 thermostats wired in series might be a worthwhile precaution in such an event. This prevents any single point of failure.

A possible drawback would be a reduction of ventilation as well as the additional cost.

All wiring from the sockets is contractor grade, same stuff you use for portable welders or Hilti tools etc.

I can take my lawn chair lay out and watch tarantulas just like a warm summer day!!

miss moxie said:


Don't forget this heat bulb -right- next to a piece of cardboard.
Click to expand...

If it won't burn your skin, it won't burn cardboard. The bulb itself can be changed by hand as well. Remember, there is a voltage controller.

If someone broke in and removed the limiters and plugged then back into the wall--big trouble. That's unlikely in a gated community.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
beaker41

beaker41

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
May 23, 2012
Messages
220
I don’t have any statistics on house fires but my adult pokies seemed to enjoy a much greater temperature drop overnight. Once I started dropping then down 15-20 degrees or so they started coming out to hunt much more often at night. 80 during the day and down to 65 at night seemed to please them more than 80 and humid 24/7.
 
Whitelightning777

Whitelightning777

Arachno-heretic
Joined
Feb 9, 2017
Messages
399
I've noticed the same thing. If a cricket is in there for more then 12 hours and I turn it off for 8, it'll be gone by the time I turn it back on.

The day/night cycle might be worth incorporation but that involves adding a timer. Typically it doesn't matter but once in a while if my pokie starts fasting, that'll snap get out of it.

I really need to rebuild that system and add times etc and then network it online. Best of all, when I do that, I'll be able to remotely watch all my spiders even from my phone.!!

For now, manual control is fine. I doubt the spider cares.
 
Venom1080

Venom1080

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Sep 24, 2015
Messages
4,611
Whitelightning777 said:
I've noticed the same thing. If a cricket is in there for more then 12 hours and I turn it off for 8, it'll be gone by the time I turn it back on.

The day/night cycle might be worth incorporation but that involves adding a timer. Typically it doesn't matter but once in a while if my pokie starts fasting, that'll snap get out of it.

I really need to rebuild that system and add times etc and then network it online. Best of all, when I do that, I'll be able to remotely watch all my spiders even from my phone.!!

For now, manual control is fine. I doubt the spider cares.
Click to expand...
Fasting? For what? Two days? Didn't you get it like two months ago? I don't think you could get consistent, accurate results in that time. Not to mention with 1 test subject.
 
Whitelightning777

Whitelightning777

Arachno-heretic
Joined
Feb 9, 2017
Messages
399
Venom1080 said:
Fasting? For what? Two days? Didn't you get it like two months ago? I don't think you could get consistent, accurate results in that time. Not to mention with 1 test subject.
Click to expand...

Usually it's gone in about 2 to 4 hours and never ignored. She never water in front of me. Cycling it triggers her off to systematically criss cross the entire enclosure. I suspect that's where the activity occurs, but she's a sneaky little thing.

Dennis Nedry said:
And if it shorts out and sparks fly from the light? Is that not a fire hazard?
Click to expand...
A short out would merely trip the breaker. With such reduced voltage, it's unlikely the wiring would wear out. It isn't in motion or vibrated.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Dennis Nedry

Dennis Nedry

Arachnodemon
Joined
Oct 21, 2017
Messages
672
Whitelightning777 said:
A short out would merely trip the breaker. With such reduced voltage, it's unlikely the wiring would wear out. It isn't in motion or vibrated.
Click to expand...
Keyword: unlikely
It's also unlikely that a lot of things would happen but they do, I would still take precautions instead of "it probably won't happen so I'll ignore it". That's why people get life insurance incase they have an unexpected car crash or something, it's unlikely but it happens
 
M

MetalMan2004

Arachnodemon
Joined
Oct 14, 2016
Messages
676
Oh man... if you have time watch the whole thing. I left it on in the background and it gets more “interesting” as you go.
 
cold blood

cold blood

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
Messages
13,259
Ungoliant said:
Click to expand...
I love how he says the additional $50-100 per month a space heater will cost to run will break the bank....dude, if that amount is the bank breaker, the bank was already broke. I don't use my window air conditioner any more...it costs 4-5 times what my space heater does to run. $50 for the space heater is a drop in the bucket by comparison.

Here's the window units he wasn't us to spend $500 on because they are perfectly safe..

"Air conditioners cause an average of 20 deaths, 140 injuries, and $82 million in property damage annually, according to a 2016 report by the National Fire Protection Association."

http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/exp...-turn-air-conditioners-fire/story?id=48176911

"In 2010, air conditioning, fans or related equipment were involved in an estimated 7,400 reported U.S. home structure fires, with associated losses of 29 civilian deaths, 249 civilian injuries and $207 million in direct property damage. The number of these fires has varied up and down with no clear trend.

In 2006-2010, the 7,200 reported home structure fires per year involving air conditioning, fans or related equipment included 2,500 per year involving central and room air conditioners specifically and 3,900 per year involving fans. Heat pumps accounted for 500 fires per year. Air conditioners and fans also accounted for nearly all the associated losses."

https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Resea...volving-air-conditioning-or-related-equipment

"Linked to a number of deaths, triple-figure injuries and hundreds of millions in property damage, fires caused by air conditioners (ACs) are more common than previously thought. In 2010 alone, roughly 7,400 fires were the result of the operation of faulty air conditioning systems."
http://electronics360.globalspec.co...r-conditioner-is-actually-a-major-fire-hazard


Now one of the most common causes for electrical fires statistically is actually the refrigerator. Yet not a soul bats an eye at their fridge running 24/7 till it dies.
Should we all be irrationally concerned that our fridges remain plugged in? Should I make a video to warn everyone??
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...tion-toxic-gas-s-dangerous-appliance-all.html

----

"According to the U.S. Fire Administration, in 2014, electrical fires accounted for 6.3 percent, nearly 24,000 fires, of all residential fires"

Electrical fires are only the cause for 6.3% of fires in homes.....so almost 94% of fires are unrelated to anything electrical. I'm pretty comfortable running my oil filled space heater 24/ 8 months a year.
 
Ungoliant

Ungoliant

Malleus Aranearum
Staff member
Joined
Mar 7, 2012
Messages
4,095
cold blood said:
Electrical fires are only the cause for 6.3% of fires in homes.....so almost 94% of fires are unrelated to anything electrical. I'm pretty comfortable running my oil filled space heater 24/ 8 months a year.
Click to expand...
Oil-filled radiators are actually quite safe if used properly. I prefer those over smaller, cheaper space heaters that blow hot air.

This house doesn't have central heating or insulation, so it does add a lot to the electric bill to run them a lot. We recently got a heat pump for days when it is cold enough to need heat but above 40 °F. Now we only run the space heaters when it gets too cold for the heat pump to work.

A heat pump is a more substantial initial expense, but it is more energy-efficient over the long term, so for us, the cost was justified, considering that the majority of time we need heat in a South Carolina "winter" is above 40 °F.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top