# Heat mats? Good or bad?



## JackM (Apr 25, 2011)

I've heard multiple times that heat pads are bad for tarantulas.

For burrowing species this makes sense to me since in the wild, the soil would get colder as they go deeper, not the other way around, but for arboreal species I don't see why it would make much of a difference.

Does anyone have any articles or anecdotal evidence to share?


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## Optic (Apr 25, 2011)

They're good for tarantulas lol


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## flamesbane (Apr 25, 2011)

I wouldn't say bad, but more unnecessary. If your temps aren't getting below ~65° F then you just don't need it. If you have to use one, put it on the side of the enclosure. Better yet, if you really DO need one and are relying on it to maintain proper temps in your enclosure then use a thermostat.


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## synyster (Apr 25, 2011)

There just not very useful. T's will be Aok at room temps so a heat mat is not needed. As you said, burrowers tend to have a cooler spot down in the burrow so a heat mat is a definate not in that case. Just keep your T room around 70 and they'll be fine


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## JackM (Apr 25, 2011)

So a space heater on low near the enclosures (in the winter) is probably more useful, right?


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## flamesbane (Apr 25, 2011)

JackM said:


> So a space heater on low near the enclosures (in the winter) is probably more useful, right?


You could do that, but again it is not needed unless your temps get really low. I use a heater in my animal room in the fall/winter, but I maintain the temps at 78-80°F year round...

ADDED BY EDIT

I use an oil-filled radiator style heater, a space heater with a fan makes it very hard to maintain proper humidity levels...


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## Shea (Apr 25, 2011)

Heating cabinets work well too if you keep your house at low temps


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## DamoK21 (Apr 25, 2011)

*An eye opener*

i know of an individual, who lost over 100 tarantula's and his whole home through 1 simple heat matt. Yes it burnt the house down.

You dont need them, they are simply a waist of money for the tarantula, a simple heater will work wonders, as said above an oil heater, i also have one in my spider room, they work wonders


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## Motorkar (Apr 25, 2011)

Best is to make heater by 25 waqtt heating cable, you can heat few enclousers with one heating cable.


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## Falk (Apr 26, 2011)

JackM said:


> I've heard multiple times that heat pads are bad for tarantulas.
> 
> For burrowing species this makes sense to me since in the wild, the soil would get colder as they go deeper, not the other way around, but for arboreal species I don't see why it would make much of a difference.
> 
> Does anyone have any articles or anecdotal evidence to share?


One problem you get with arboreal species is that a heatpad will dry out the substrate very fast.


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## webbedone (Apr 26, 2011)

Heating mats creat hot spots that tarantulas cannot sense or escape from if the pad is placed under the enclosure and that often kills the spider, if you absolutely must use a pad because you are paranoid that an animal that is amazing at temperature adaptation will be "cold" then slap it on the side of the enclosure. Otherwise avoid using a heat pad, if you feel that the room temperature isnt enough for your Ts (which it is except for some exotic ones that require higher temps) get a nice space heater that you can run twice or 3 times a day in your T room for about 15 minutes and all your heating problems will be over.


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## BrynWilliams (Apr 26, 2011)

webbedone said:


> Heating mats creat hot spots that tarantulas cannot sense or escape from if the pad is placed under the enclosure and that often kills the spider, if you absolutely must use a pad because you are paranoid that an animal that is amazing at temperature adaptation will be "cold" then slap it on the side of the enclosure. Otherwise avoid using a heat pad, if you feel that the room temperature isnt enough for your Ts (which it is except for some exotic ones that require higher temps) get a nice space heater that you can run twice or 3 times a day in your T room for about 15 minutes and all your heating problems will be over.





JackM said:


> So a space heater on low near the enclosures (in the winter) is probably more useful, right?


Just a couple points with respect to the above comments.

Firstly, the correct wattage heatmat needs to be used, it is simply untrue that a 5Watt heatmat will create any kind of 'hotspot' that reaches any significant temperatures. I've tried enclosing such a heatmat in a duvet+blanket just to see what temps could be achieved, they never got over 25 degrees C. However, granted if you use a higher wattage heatmat then obviously the temps achievable are more into the 'hot' category, so consideration just needs to be paid when selecting a heatmat. (For higher wattage heatmats, i agree a thermostat is useful)

Thus, for those of us who live in cold climates, such as myself in the UK, heatmats provide an extremely useful and budget way of keeping my Ts warm enough. I personally use them on a timer for night time heating and i routinely see all my Ts hanging on the walls near the heatmats at night. Correctly deployed and on the side of a tank I see no reason why they can't be used. 

For those that say 'just use an oil heater in the room'. I urge the consideration of the additional power usage. All my heatmats in total add up to about 40 watts, an average oil heater/fan heater uses about 2 Kilowatt per hour. Specifically here in the UK, electricity is our most expensive utility and thus usage adds up cost wise. 

(e.g. due to natural gas prices vs electricity, it costs approximately the same amount per hour, to centrally heat a 3 bedroom house, than it does to run a 2KW fan heater for one room)

For those interested in my T keeping in winter, i started a thread about this a while ago.

Hope it helps

Bryn

Reactions: Like 5


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## fartkowski (Apr 26, 2011)

I have always used an oil filled heater.
I don't think heat mats are necessary for tarantulas.


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## ilovepink (Apr 26, 2011)

You could use one but its really not necessary. I don't use any extra heat source with mine. Thats the beauty with tarantulas. They don't require a whole lot of work


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