Drafty Houses and Tarantulas

[8LegsInADuffleBag]

Our house is drafty, even with the heat on. And our roommates refuse to allow us to use a space heater for the dining room where the tarantulas are housed. (Our room has no heating, and is in the attic, so temps drop to whatever is outside.)

So, we want to put a heating cable and thermastat on the shelves, not on the actual enclosures. Would this safe for our Ts?

 

[Malum Argenteum]

Drafty houses -- as opposed to those that are simply kept at low temps -- are a particular challenge for maintaining stable temps in small enclosures since the temps of the room vary according to the outside temps and also different areas of a given room vary in temp according to the direction and intensity of the wind. This makes the thermostatic control of temps in enclosures very important and also very hard to design. So, adding heat cable in the general area will very likely do little or nothing to stabilize viv temps (heat cable/tape is a contact heat source -- it doesn't really heat the air, it heats the surface it is in contact with).

I live in a 100 year old house heated by wood that catches winter winds across bare farm fields, so I know the general idea. All my exotics are kept in a temp and humidity stable room in the basement.

Figuring out what temps your Ts need compared to what the room temps will be, though, is the first step.

 

[cold blood]

Drafts can be bad....I lost a pair of adults last winter, room was 75-80 all the time with the space heater, but the drafty window they were in front of was still too much for them to handle. I neglected to close the storm windows fwiw.

I would consider building a heated cabinet if you live in a northern climate.

 

[Dorifto]

So, we want to put a heating cable and thermastat on the shelves, not on the actual enclosures. Would this safe for our Ts?

Is there any possibility to close the shelve? Using acrylic sheets etc. It'd be much easier to control the heat.

 

[jrh3]

You can you a heatmat or flexwatt heat tape. WITH A THERMOSTAT. Place it on the inside back of the shelf, close to where the tarantula enclosures are. I use duct tape for the thermostat to be attached to the heat tape. This will give them enough to keep warm. But you would want to try to enclose it or it will constantly turn off and on.