# How hot is too hot?



## papalooee1 (Mar 21, 2015)

Given the winter we've had in the NE I am looking forward to warmer months. And then I got to thinking... my apartment is on the top floor of a 5 floor walk up and can get stupidly hot in the heat of summer. Regular window AC is a no go for me. No one will install (prewar building no outlet close to window. Pro installers wont do it if extension cord necessary) and I would likely kill myself or someone below trying to do it myself. Therefore, I use a sucky  portable that costs boat loads of cash to run and lowest temp I've accomplished in one room is 87. So it begs the question... how hot is too hot for my T's? Any less obvious solutions for cooling? Even the closets get hot. Hot water pipes are behind that wall. Thanks in advance.


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## Graeboe (Mar 21, 2015)

I think the most important question is how hot does the room get? spot cooling can be easier in a smaller space and knowing the high temp that your place can get is easier to start addressing the problem than going into the multitudes of different temperature ranges of tarantula species.

Reactions: Like 1


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## papalooee1 (Mar 21, 2015)

Bedroom is the smallest (10 x 11) and the coolest room (exterior walls and a decent breeze off the the harlem river). I plan on moving them there come summer. Just two at the moment. A 2ish inch B. vagans and an adult G. porteri. In previous summers the coolest reading I could get on the AC unit itself was 87.


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## Graeboe (Mar 21, 2015)

papalooee1 said:


> Bedroom is the smallest (10 x 11) and the coolest room (exterior walls and a decent breeze off the the harlem river). I plan on moving them there come summer. Just two at the moment. A 2ish inch B. vagans and an adult G. porteri. In previous summers the coolest reading I could get on the AC unit itself was 87.


You already stated the coolest temp youve registered. I asked for the highest temperature that the room gets


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## papalooee1 (Mar 21, 2015)

High 90s. Hotter during a heatwave. Apologies. I simply misread your question. Tiny font on a tiny phone screen.


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## Poec54 (Mar 21, 2015)

I let mine get around 90 last summer; I wouldn't want to go higher than that.


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## pyro fiend (Mar 21, 2015)

personally i think this depends who you ask.. my room is always set to 80degrees and a fan to keep the air moving [some days my thermometer reads 83 others reads 74 so it fluxuates depending how cold it is outside as i have no insulation in this room].. [also note i dont keep species from high elevations] iv just hit the 1 yr mark of owning T's but iv done this with over 100sp of reptiles and works for me..[sofar] once the temp hits 75 outside i open one of my two windows and add a fan.. when its 78 and more for over a week ill open the second once it its 90s the 1st fan goes into the second window.. on those RARE days it hits 95 and super humid or over a hundred is the only day the air may come on in my room.. i feel its a little important to have heat fluxuations as its never only one temp in the wild.. but even on those realy hot days, with my town living right by a river [lliterally like 7 blocks west of me] my temp guage has never gone above 93 with fans going even when it was over 100 outside but when the guage outside says 100 i usually throw the air on 85


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## Sana (Mar 21, 2015)

Last summer was my first full, painfully hot summer as a tarantula keeper.  My spider room, which doubles as my bedroom, gets up to an average of 92 F during the day, with our hottest day last summer maxing at 102 F in that room.  Just to make things interesting, living in Colorado it gets chilly at night, even in the hottest part of the summer.  Temperatures can and do go from the high 90s during the day to the mid and occasionally low 50s at night within a single 24 hour period.  Last summer I was only keeping Grammostola and Avicularia species, which did fine with the crazy temperatures.  This summer I have a number of OW species that I will have to worry about.  I'm hoping that I will be able to keep the temperatures from making extreme jumps every day.  I don't run the A/C here, but use a combination of fans to bring in cool air and push out hot air, aluminum foil on windows with the shiny side out to reflect the sun back outside instead of into the room, and adjusting the shades based on the time of day and position of the sun so that the sunny side of the house is closed up and the shady side is open and bringing in cooler air.  It's been a pain to learn, but has increased in effectiveness each year as I've gotten more experience at it.  I'm hoping this summer to keep the room at 90 F or below during the day and 65 F or above overnight.  Gotta have a goal right?


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## pyro fiend (Mar 21, 2015)

Sana said:


> Last summer was my first full, painfully hot summer as a tarantula keeper.  My spider room, which doubles as my bedroom, gets up to an average of 92 F during the day, with our hottest day last summer maxing at 102 F in that room.  Just to make things interesting, living in Colorado it gets chilly at night, even in the hottest part of the summer.  Temperatures can and do go from the high 90s during the day to the mid and occasionally low 50s at night within a single 24 hour period.  Last summer I was only keeping Grammostola and Avicularia species, which did fine with the crazy temperatures.  This summer I have a number of OW species that I will have to worry about.  I'm hoping that I will be able to keep the temperatures from making extreme jumps every day.  I don't run the A/C here, but use a combination of fans to bring in cool air and push out hot air, aluminum foil on windows with the shiny side out to reflect the sun back outside instead of into the room, and adjusting the shades based on the time of day and position of the sun so that the sunny side of the house is closed up and the shady side is open and bringing in cooler air.  It's been a pain to learn, but has increased in effectiveness each year as I've gotten more experience at it.  I'm hoping this summer to keep the room at 90 F or below during the day and 65 F or above overnight.  Gotta have a goal right?


quick note, i learned this a wiel back [especially working for an awning company at my current job] heating of the room is partly because of the glass heating up. so as much sense as shiny sound out seems.. your still getting hot glass [maybe even more so], your foil would need to go outside to keep it cooler  a outside shade can keep your room up to 20deg cooler [but usually your spending an arm and a leg on some of these like 300 each =\]


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## cold blood (Mar 21, 2015)

Ever see that commercial for that mid-evil war video game with that blond with the....oh, wait, you mean tarantulas.:8o

Back when I had only my porteri my room often got to over 100 or in that neighborhood, and unlike CO, it will be 90 at night for stretches, which doesn't help cool anything down.  She never had an issue, although I was worried she would the first summer.  I now utilize multiple fans and open doors to create as good of airflow as I can depending on wind direction, its been steady in the high 80's over the last several years, the only change I see is t's that are active and seemingly always hungry.

Reactions: Disagree 1


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## Poec54 (Mar 21, 2015)

cold blood said:


> its been steady in the high 80's over the last several years, the only change I see is t's that are active and seemingly always hungry.


Daytime temps in the 80's raise their metabolisms and encourage faster growth.  It's a good idea to let the temps drop 5 to 10 degrees at night.


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## Tim Benzedrine (Mar 22, 2015)

What about a cold pack or two on top of the enclosures during the real scorchers? I'm not offering this as a suggestion, but rather a question. Would it risk lowering the temperature too much? I fear I may have a problem this summer, though my prior tarantula (G. rosea) survived 12 years here, and I'm sure the room hit the 90's on occasion. During the day, pulling air in would make little difference. After the sun sets, a fan draws in cooler night air, I'm more concerned about the daytime. No air conditioning.


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## Formerphobe (Mar 22, 2015)

Inverts can tolerate a little cold better than a lot of hot. Especially when kept in enclosures where the heat may be intensified. I'd think anything over 90 would be danger zone.


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## papalooee1 (Mar 22, 2015)

cold blood said:


> Ever see that commercial for that mid-evil war video game with that blond with the....oh, wait, you mean tarantulas.:8o .


Haha! She should have been a red head!

---------- Post added 03-22-2015 at 10:51 AM ----------

I'm gonna test out the "home made" variety cooling systems lol. You've seen them on you tube. Basically consists of a foam cooler filled with bags of ice and then fitted with a small electric fan in the lid to pull the cool air out. Perhaps a small version close to enclosures could help on crazy hot days. But then again perhaps it wont... 
I'd rather spend a few bucks a day on ice bags than the $450 on one months electric bill... took me 4 months to pay that one off lol.

---------- Post added 03-22-2015 at 11:12 AM ----------

I'm gonna test out the "home made" variety cooling systems lol. You've seen them on you tube. Basically consists of a foam cooler filled with bags of ice and then fitted with a small electric fan in the lid to pull the cool air out. Perhaps a small version close to enclosures could help on crazy hot days. But then again perhaps it wont... 
I'd rather spend a few bucks a day on ice bags than the $450 on one months electric bill... took me 4 months to pay that one off lol.


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## cold blood (Mar 22, 2015)

My neighbor did that with his sons room, it really worked well at dropping the temps back into the habitable range...amazing what a cooler full of ice and a fan can do!


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## pyro fiend (Mar 22, 2015)

cold blood said:


> My neighbor did that with his sons room, it really worked well at dropping the temps back into the habitable range...amazing what a cooler full of ice and a fan can do!


Gah my buddy did that with a bucket.. I freaking froze -.- then again i was lovin it outside at 85 xs


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## cold blood (Oct 2, 2019)

@Curly hair 

Why the disagree on the 4 year old thread???

Reactions: Funny 2


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