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My house gets cold at times so I decided to setup this heat lamp on top of his 10 gallon enclosure. This wont harm him in any way will it?
heat?
- Thread starter slimtim454
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Unless its hooked to a thermostat the area under the lamp will reach around 100-115 degrees in about 4 hours. Leaving any type of heat source unchecked whether its for a lizard, snake, or invert is a risk. How many watts is the bulb? how cold does the room get?
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100 watt bulb, thinking about switching to a 75 watt. The room gets really cold, probly 50's.
I use a 60 watt red light on both of my subspinipes enclosures. The temp only gets upwards of 80 degrees on the warm side of the cage, I've got hides on both sides (cork bark) so the Pedes can decide where they want to hang out.
The bedding I'm using for all my pedes is Eco Earth, I add water to the substrate about twice a week, and have yet to run into any problems. I agree with 8+), I'd only have the light on one side of the enclosure, this way the pede can thermoregulate at it's leisure.
Hmmm, that brings up another question, do inverts actually thermoregulate in the same sense reptiles would?
The bedding I'm using for all my pedes is Eco Earth, I add water to the substrate about twice a week, and have yet to run into any problems. I agree with 8+), I'd only have the light on one side of the enclosure, this way the pede can thermoregulate at it's leisure.
Hmmm, that brings up another question, do inverts actually thermoregulate in the same sense reptiles would?
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Yea I'm going to change to a 75 watt bulb
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Do you have a similair setup? screen top? reptile light?
Yep, my setup is pretty darn close. Each enclosure is a 10 Gallon Tank w/Screen Top, 2 - 3 pieces of cork Bark, Light w/ 60 Watt Red Bulb, and a water dish... Whenever I refill the water dish I let it overflow to make sure the bedding stays moist.
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surprised...
it's the first time that i saw such an environment. controling temperature with the heat lamp.
well.. i think that you must change its position in different side. for now the heat lamp would make all entire ground getting warm. so pedes have no choice where they would be for their interest on the cage. if the heat lamp could make the half ground warmer, then the pedes will choose the best with their condition.
as for my case, i have two haitian juveniles in a plastic cage(x*y*z=about 28*18*20cm). and i put this on my dsl modem which is flat enough to bring something on and enoughly warm for 24 hours. it will make the cage warm from the "under-ground."
i guess that direcltly-emiting heat in closer distance is not good for the pede's health. (it might take moisture from the inside of pede body away) because most centipedes like working at night. it's only my opinion.
take care..!
-locke
ps: which species is it in the terrarium?
it's the first time that i saw such an environment. controling temperature with the heat lamp.
well.. i think that you must change its position in different side. for now the heat lamp would make all entire ground getting warm. so pedes have no choice where they would be for their interest on the cage. if the heat lamp could make the half ground warmer, then the pedes will choose the best with their condition.
as for my case, i have two haitian juveniles in a plastic cage(x*y*z=about 28*18*20cm). and i put this on my dsl modem which is flat enough to bring something on and enoughly warm for 24 hours. it will make the cage warm from the "under-ground."
i guess that direcltly-emiting heat in closer distance is not good for the pede's health. (it might take moisture from the inside of pede body away) because most centipedes like working at night. it's only my opinion.
take care..!
-locke
ps: which species is it in the terrarium?
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no matter what size bulb you put on in any position you going to have problems. You need to keep the room temp or the tank temp STABLE.....a bulb cannot do that, only a bulb on a thermostat can. If you house goes below 60's you NEED a heat device controlled by a thermostat unles you want your ritters to hibernate or die slowly....
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They have no choice. They are not endotherms thus they must find a way to use the heat in thier envorment. Thier S. subsp. sp. should remain 74-88 for 8 months with a 3 month period of 74-68 then warming backup. If you cant keep the tank at that level then youll have either a pet hole or a dead pede...lol. Whe kept right they are out and about after dark.
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would a bottom heater work a bit more appropriatly...that way it would heat the ground on one side as opposed to the top? I agree though that it needs to be regulated and only heated on one side.
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i think this is a common misperception, that a lot of bugs need to be in the 80's (F) or warmer... i don't think that is the case at all. when i wintered my bugs they all lived quite happily at 50*F for about a month. it probably even dropped to high 40's some nights. i had no deaths until *after* i started warming up my bugs again and forgot to feed them more as their metabolism picked back up.If you house goes below 60's you NEED a heat device controlled by a thermostat unles you want your ritters to hibernate or die slowly....
i'm guessing there are some species that might do poorly if kept at 50*F for a month, but out of the ~20 tara, ~10 scorp, and ~15 centipede species NONE of mine seemed to do poorly with the winterizing. i even had a P. regalis tara on an eggsac, and got viables.
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I think regardless of the heat you will always have a "pet hole."
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Wow, I would of guessed it to kill all but the native polymorphas:?
When I keep my S ssp. in stable temps I saw alot more activity out of them, I also kept the RH around 90%. Out of all the pedes Ive had the one I saw the least was actually my S. heros., go fig.lol. Maybe my exp. is different but I would'nt call it a misconception. Ild go numb if I walked into my invert room and it was 50....
Out of all the people on either boards Ild have to say your the only guy ild believe on that... I still have to say that when I put the room on a thermostat I saw alot of my pedes out (save the heros) almost every night I went in to feed. Ild have to say that I never claimed to need to keep them that high, I just see a different behavior with those parameters.
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my room mates thought i was crazy. you could see your breath in my room (i can hear all the ppl with "real" winters laughing at me, heh)Wow, I would of guessed it to kill all but the native polymorphas:?
When I keep my S ssp. in stable temps I saw alot more activity out of them, I also kept the RH around 90%. Out of all the pedes Ive had the one I saw the least was actually my S. heros., go fig.lol. Maybe my exp. is different but I would'nt call it a misconception. Ild go numb if I walked into my invert room and it was 50....
i think basically that is the crux of the situation. what i am trying to do is set up a long term sustainable breeding program with a number of centipede (and other stuff too) species. i don't particularily care if i can see any one bug, as i have hundreds to check out... at least one is going to be doing *something*.
also, i personally get a little worried when i have a bug that is wandering every night. to my thinking, most of my bugs (mature male taras notwithstanding) live in some kind of permanent "house"... be it a burrow or a tube web or whatever.... so when things are all in acceptable ranges the bugs just stay in their houses, doing bug things.... but when something is not quite tuned right then the bugs try to "fix" it. typically the fix is to move shop.
i readily grant that this is a vast generalization and that some bugs are not full and complete ambush predators so they will go on hunting forays.... but generally, it seems to be the case that a bug that is "happy" (read, going to molt and reproduce) does not really do a whole lot and stays hidden most of the time.
further... i am coming to strongly suspect that some bugs absolutely need perceptible seasonal shifts in temp and humidity or they will not reproduce. i am starting to think some might even need seasons to mature as they have "hibernation" type requirements. at the very least, running bugs on summer mode the whole time will cause them to live out their lives and die at about twice the rate they would with seasonal peaks and troughs of activity
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I totally agree. My ssp. didnt start to exhibit mating bahavior until I set the room to "winter" for approx 3 months, the slowly brought it back up the the mid 70's, once I hit those temps the male started dropping his spermatophores on his "webs". Combined with the peak of summer round here kind of complete the seasons.
Wow, 74 - 88 is a pretty big gradient when you think about it. A temp gradient like that is actually right around what most herps are as well. I don't see why it would be "that" hard to maintain a constant temp if one is doing it correctly, via bulb or other methods of heat.
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Most people try to maintain thier tanks at that temp, Its not so much the temp but more the humidity. I shoot for the room (no desert sp). I dont pay much attention to peoples setups as most pedes ar WC, I try to get thier native range down. One ting peopel seem to ignore is one of the most obvious when the pede is visible, which is its colors. Check out the front and rear legs set on pics pf S. ssp. I get drastic changes with what I believe to be the correct constant RH.
I gotcha, I too think that the humidity is quite a bit more important then the temp. Hehe, after all no-one wants their centipede to suddenly transform into ped-i-jerky. Now that would just suck...
The leg color thing I remember reading about (may have been on Steven's site). Something to do with brighter oranges and reds represent a more hydrated pede while duller colors are signs of dehydration. I think that's what I'd read, though it was quite a while ago.