Cheapest heating for a roach colony?

[Bob Lee]

I want to find the cheapest way to heat up a roach colony.
So far ceramic blubs and aquarium heaters seem to be the cheapest, anyone tried them before? How well does it work?

This is 50w for just nine bucks, sound like a good deal to me

 

[Pyroxian]

I want to find the cheapest way to heat up a roach colony.
So far ceramic blubs and aquarium heaters seem to be the cheapest, anyone tried them before? How well does it work?
View attachment 321481
This is 50w for just nine bucks, sound like a good deal to me

Aquarium heaters generally need to be submerged in water to operate safely. I don't keep roaches, but I have enough fish experience to know that those heaters don't live long when run dry. You might be able to use it to heat a glass bottle of water and put the whole bottle inside your colony, but that sounds like it would be inefficient.

 

[Bob Lee]

Aquarium heaters generally need to be submerged in water to operate safely.

Yeah thought that this might be the case.
Guess sticking to the old ways are probably better. Kind of curious about ceramic bulbs though

 

[Arthroverts]

I think the ceramic bulbs would work; if nothing else, heat pads continue to work great for me.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[mantisfan101]

An aquarium heater will begin to melt and then explode if used outside of water. Heat mat or heating cable would be better.

 

[The Snark]

Or if you have a lot of area or locations to heat just grab some 80/20 nichrome wire and a small bag of refractory cement and make your own radiant heat panels or mats. Cannibalize the heating elements from dead hair dryers etc. You could easily make a several thousand watts of heaters for <$20. Just use Ohm's law.

 

[SonsofArachne]

I use a ceramic bulb on my B. lat. colonies and have a population explosion in the warmer months. I don't move it closer in winter because like to thin the colonies out a little.

 

[Bob Lee]

Or if you have a lot of area or locations to heat just grab some 80/20 nichrome wire and a small bag of refractory cement and make your own radiant heat panels or mats. Cannibalize the heating elements from dead hair dryers etc. You could easily make a several thousand watts of heaters for <$20. Just use Ohm's law.

And burn my house down while I'm at it

 

[The Snark]

And burn my house down while I'm at it

Not a do-it-yourselfer, hmm?

Recollections. New infant incubator. Received retrofit of heating elements days after we got the critter in use. Then a week later a manufacturer recommended upgrade, interestingly the $79 unit should be replaced by the $179 upgrade. Then a couple of OSHA notices and a Bio-med trade sheet on a quick fix on heating elements using readily available NiChrome available from Grainger and refactory cement. And the guys in maintenance were about to rebuild the haz waste incinerator interior. Stroll out to the hanger and look over the 4 retired antique infant incubators. The new CT scan had eaten the capital expense budget. And OB had just started a PR push and was lauding their AB rooms. Time for some creativity...
Two antiques still grace OB. Zero maintenance required in 35 years. That new incubator had already been replaced and it's replacement rebuilt.
https://www.grainger.com/search?searchBar=true&searchQuery=nichrome

Oh yes. A bonus. The first AB room baby is now a Bio-med tech at a neighboring hospital. Unreal how time flies by.

 

[obie]

I use a ceramic bulb on my B. lat. colonies and have a population explosion in the warmer months. I don't move it closer in winter because like to thin the colonies out a little.

How do you place your bulb. Near or inside the colony

 

[Arachnomaniac1990]

I use a small heat mat for my Blaptica dubia.
Works just fine.
In the warm summer months they breed like crazy, winter a bit less.
Cheap and easy, just stick it to the side.
You may need a bigger heat mat depending on your container.

 

[SonsofArachne]

How do you place your bulb. Near or inside the colony

Near. I have them in a large Sterilite bin with about 1/4 of the lid cut out. I have the bulb about 1 foot above the opening.

 

[Introvertebrate]

Aquarium heaters in glass jars full of water have been used to heat/humidify herp enclosures since the 70s.

 

[aaarg]

i didn't even use a ceramic bulb - just a 25 watt red bulb in a dome fixture, atop the bin. seemed to work ok, idk how efficient it was but the cost was negligible.

 

[Smotzer]

I prefer bulbs more than heat mats for my colonies, I feel like mats never get the colony at a consistent heat

 

[Madnesssr]

I use a seedling heat mat with a thermostat. Works great, even a year later. I use a seed heat mat on a thermostat.

 

[mantisfan101]

I find that a simple infrared ceramic heat lamp is enough, as long as they have access to a water source. Plus it distributes heat so I can heat up other roach species along with them.

 

[Feral]

None.
Yet.
I've considered heating my lats in the winter, but as of yet I haven't needed to. They reproduce just fine during the warmer months with no additional heating, then stop reproducing in the winter when my spoods are tucked in for winter torpor and therefore not eating anyway. So far, has worked well for me. But I'm interested in everyone's methods, in case I need a higher rate of reproduction in the future.

[edit- Oh, and aquarium heaters run dry will definitely go splodey. No bueno. Must submerge. Even running them in a jar or whatever would make me nervous, as evaporation would need to be monitored super closely. Another thing to consider is that aquatic heaters only heat the water directly surrounding them, then shut off once preset temp is acheived. So, without adding artificial circulation you're pretty much just going to end up with one warm spot directly around the heater, but not much heat anywhere else. The newest heaters would be even worse at this, as thier shutoffs are much more precise, down to +/- 0.5°F or less.]

 

[KevinsWither]

I think a heating cable works.

 

[JC]

I use both the mat and the cable. I prefer the cable ten times more. Very versatile.