Heated Multi Enclosure Cabinets

[MJInsoCal]

Middle of summer in California. It is a ways away from worrying about winter temperatures. And mild winters to add. But I’m already starting to think of some sort of heating cabinet. I have 9 tarantulas. All sling size now. I’d rather avoid heating my entire, although small, home office with them in it. So cabinet I’m thinking. I’m wondering how such a thing contradicts if at all the whole.. ventilation.. ventilation..ventilation mantra with species like the Carbena Versicolor. I also want to invest in something much more reliable that an undertank heater and crappy pet thermostat. After 2 years of semi trusting a, it never gets past 85 degrees under tank heater for my corn snake, I felt the bottom of the tank, and it was burning hot. That is .. with a thermostat which is supposed to throttle the heat on the stupid thing. Fortunately the snake is o.k., but the bottom line is, I’m not going to trust anything out of the pet trade when it comes to reliable and stable temperature. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[MBArachnids]

Middle of summer in California. It is a ways away from worrying about winter temperatures. And mild winters to add. But I’m already starting to think of some sort of heating cabinet. I have 9 tarantulas. All sling size now. I’d rather avoid heating my entire, although small, home office with them in it. So cabinet I’m thinking. I’m wondering how such a thing contradicts if at all the whole.. ventilation.. ventilation..ventilation mantra with species like the Carbena Versicolor. I also want to invest in something much more reliable that an undertank heater and crappy pet thermostat. After 2 years of semi trusting a, it never gets past 85 degrees under tank heater for my corn snake, I felt the bottom of the tank, and it was burning hot. That is .. with a thermostat which is supposed to throttle the heat on the stupid thing. Fortunately the snake is o.k., but the bottom line is, I’m not going to trust anything out of the pet trade when it comes to reliable and stable temperature. Any thoughts or suggestions?

This might not be the exact answer you are looking for. I was also looking at enclosed shelves with heating for each a few years back but it seemed too much trouble. I instead went with advice that @cold blood gave me I believe.

I went and got myself an oil heater and it has been keeping my T's happy for about 2 years now, I don't even need to check the temps I just leave it on and every single T in my T room is happy no matter where they are placed in the room.

I am not sure what your budget is but for me at least the oil heater worked wonders

 

[DaveM]

I also use an oil heater with a thermostat to heat my spider room, no trouble and very reliable.
If you want to build enclosed shelves, then I recommend heating cable with a controller that takes input from a thermometers / temperature probes. These are commonly marketed / sold to reptile people. I've seen nice setups from arachnid keepers too, especially in northern Europe, where this heating method seems to be very popular.

 

[viper69]

Middle of summer in California. It is a ways away from worrying about winter temperatures. And mild winters to add. But I’m already starting to think of some sort of heating cabinet. I have 9 tarantulas. All sling size now. I’d rather avoid heating my entire, although small, home office with them in it. So cabinet I’m thinking. I’m wondering how such a thing contradicts if at all the whole.. ventilation.. ventilation..ventilation mantra with species like the Carbena Versicolor. I also want to invest in something much more reliable that an undertank heater and crappy pet thermostat. After 2 years of semi trusting a, it never gets past 85 degrees under tank heater for my corn snake, I felt the bottom of the tank, and it was burning hot. That is .. with a thermostat which is supposed to throttle the heat on the stupid thing. Fortunately the snake is o.k., but the bottom line is, I’m not going to trust anything out of the pet trade when it comes to reliable and stable temperature. Any thoughts or suggestions?

There are reliable proportional thermostats used for herps that can be trusted.

 

[cold blood]

Just be aware, your ts, unlike many herps, just dont require high temps,at all.

 

[jaw6053]

How cold does your T room get in the middle of winter in California ?

 

[Stan Schultz]

Before we answer your question -

1) Where in California are you?

2) Why do you think your Ts need augmented heat in Winter?

3) How cold does this room get? Normal Winter temps? Lowest Winter temp?

I am really dubious about your hypothesis that your tarantulas need added heat in Winter. This is more because most enthusiasts don't understand tarantulas and temperature, and make all sorts of unsubstantiated assumptions borrowed from the tropical fish and herptile hobbies, than from anything you've said in this post except the "California" part. (Here, I'm admittedly working from a position of ignorance!)

Tarantulas are poikilotherms - "cold blooded" creatures. Their body temperatures can vary widely and sometimes wildly with little actual harm to them. It might not be too much of an exaggeration to say that they very nearly couldn't care less. (But don't take that too seriously.) I address this entire topic in detail here: TEMPERATURE - ANOTHER MYTH PERPETUATED BY TARANTULA ENTHUSIASTS.

If you'll be kind enough to answer the three questions above, and if it looks like you really do need temperature augmentation, I may be able to offer a few solutions.


May all the holes in your path hold large, fuzzy spiders!

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Question: What's worse than finding a poisonous spider in your motorhome?

Answer: Losing a poisonous spider in your motorhome!

(I'm a full time RVer. I LIVE in a motorhome!)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

[aprilmayjunebugs]

Question: What's worse than finding a poisonous spider in your motorhome?

Answer: Losing a poisonous spider in your motorhome!

(I'm a full time RVer. I LIVE in a motorhome!)

Venomous. Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine.

Edit: I just realized, did I just correct a famous author?

 

[moricollins]

Venomous. Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine.

Edit: I just realized, did I just correct a famous author?

Yes ... You did

 

[MJInsoCal]

Before we answer your question -

1) Where in California are you?

Lake Forest.

2) Why do you think your Ts need augmented heat in Winter?

Partially, to help maintain growth + metabolism.

3) How cold does this room get? Normal Winter temps? Lowest Winter temp?

The coldest it gets here in Lake Forest, CA is maybe 40 in the winter. I mean the worst. My home office, prob high 50s, low 60s ?



I am really dubious about your hypothesis that your tarantulas need added heat in Winter. This is more because most enthusiasts don't understand tarantulas and temperature, and make all sorts of unsubstantiated assumptions borrowed from the tropical fish and herptile hobbies, than from anything you've said in this post except the "California" part. (Here, I'm admittedly working from a position of ignorance!)

Tarantulas are poikilotherms - "cold blooded" creatures. Their body temperatures can vary widely and sometimes wildly with little actual harm to them. It might not be too much of an exaggeration to say that they very nearly couldn't care less. (But don't take that too seriously.) I address this entire topic in detail here: TEMPERATURE - ANOTHER MYTH PERPETUATED BY TARANTULA ENTHUSIASTS.

If you'll be kind enough to answer the three questions above, and if it looks like you really do need temperature augmentation, I may be able to offer a few solutions.


May all the holes in your path hold large, fuzzy spiders!

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Question: What's worse than finding a poisonous spider in your motorhome?

Answer: Losing a poisonous spider in your motorhome!

(I'm a full time RVer. I LIVE in a motorhome!)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

How cold does your T room get in the middle of winter in California ?

Answered above as well, but to directly quote and answer (and thanks for response)

The coldest it gets here in Lake Forest, CA is maybe 40 in the winter. I mean the worst. My home office, prob high 50s, low 60s ?

 

[Stan Schultz]

Answered above as well, but to directly quote and answer (and thanks for response)

The coldest it gets here in Lake Forest, CA is maybe 40 in the winter. I mean the worst. My home office, prob high 50s, low 60s ?

I must be getting old! The one thing that I failed to ask, but didn't, was, "What kinds of tarantulas are we talking about here?"

But in the meantime, Forest Park, you say? Holy spider-web! You're just off I-5 a little north of LA! I may have been within 10 or 15 miles of your home a couple of years ago (March, 2017) as I was heading back to Canada for the Summer! Too many people! Highways in too bad a shape. I was told that I-15 wasn't named that because of it's position in the national highway system, but rather because of the rate of traffic flow most of the daylight hours! Nice palm trees, though. I stayed a week in an RV park in Corona (long ways south of you), where every picnic table had at least three brown widows (L. geometicus). But you'd only see them well after dark. During the day, the tables looked completely innocent!

But I digress. Unless you have something radically unusual, any of your tarantulas can almost surely tolerate temperatures falling into the 60s every night, almost forever. And they should also be able to tolerate occasional temperatures down into the 50s for one or two nights at a time with little or no harm, as long as they can warm up during daylight hours.

However, if you feel that you absolutely MUST warm them a bit, I must ask you, "How good are your handyman's and electrician's skills?" Go to one or more used appliance dealers to see what's available in the way of dead refrigerators, or at least those that should be dead. What's your favorite shape? Round topped, 1930s Retro vintage? Stainless steel box, 2000s not-so-modern style anymore? In particular, you should be keeping a lookout for one in which it will be really easy to replace the door with a sheet of 1/4" plexiglass. When you find the perfect one for your tarantulas, that fits well with the rest of your office decor (in my case that might be "Early 21st Century Junk Yard!") have the shop owner remove the compressor and cooling coils (because of the Freon that may still be in them) and devise some way of getting the shell home. Along the way, stop at a Home Depot or Lowe's and check out their stock of plexiglass. Pick up a sheet or two that's a little wider and taller than the refrigerator's door. While you're there, pick up a relatively inexpensive, household furnace thermostat (pick one that runs on 112 Volt power as well as controls it), a standard household, light bulb socket, a 5 watt bulb to fit, and a couple of thermometers that match each other in reported temperature and in which the reported temperature seems realistic. If you plan ahead you can also pick up whatever minor parts and tools you may need to complete this project.

Once you get all this stuff home and into your garage, carefully cut the plexiglass to mate with the body of the frig. Replace the door with the plexiglass.

Then wire the thermostat in series with the bulb socket. The bulb socket should go on or near the inside bottom of the frig along one side. Mount the thermostat perhaps halfway up the inside wall on the opposite side. This helps prevent the rising hot air from the light bulb (which see) from interfering with the proper function of the thermostat. Screw a VERY LOW wattage (e.g., 5 or 10 watts) bulb into the socket, and plug your habitat/environment case (a.k.a., Rube Goldberg apparatus) into the wall outlet. DO NOT INTRODUCE ANY LIVING TARANTULAS INTO YOUR HABITAT CASE UNTIL YOU'VE RUN A SERIES OF TESTS ON IT FOR SEVERAL WEEKS.

"What kind of tests?" you ask? Put one thermometer that you trust inside the frig, and another that you trust (do they read the same under identical conditions?) outside but next to the frig. Adjust the thermostat to your desired temperature. Move the inside thermometer to various levels in the frig and readjust the thermostat to a different temperature every few days. On a piece of paper, make a note of the date and time, the room temperature, the thermostat's setting, the level in the frig where you currently have the thermometer resting, and the reading on the inside thermometer. Within a couple of weeks you should begin to develop a "feel" for how well your habitat/environment case functions.

Your primary concern here is NOT that your habitat/environment case is going to keep your tarantulas from getting too cold for the reasons that I gave above. Your primary concern should be that nowhere in the frig will it get too hot and thereby cook your tarantulas. You're only trying to raise their temperature a very few degrees, for a very few hours, during the very coldest part of the evening for only a very few days a year. And, if a 5 watt bulb produces too much heat, making this environment case untrustworthy, try using a smaller bulb socket and a smaller bulb. (A nightlight comes to mind.)

All right! All right! I understand. That seems to be a lot of work and expense for a few spiders, no? I agree. But remember that you're not the only one who's going to read this. Somebody living in Minnesota or Saskatchewan, Canada, where it gets REALLY, BITTERLY cold for months on end may also read this and think, "Hey! That's exactly what I need!"

I have fomented enough unrest and shivery thoughts for one evening here. May all the holes in your path hold large, fuzzy spiders ... in parkas!

<roflmao>

Venomous. Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine.

Edit: I just realized, did I just correct a famous author?

Yes, and I stand corrected. And I'm a bit embarrassed that I hadn't caught it before this, myself.

That is a plagiarized quote, taken off the Internet, and altered a bit. The quote is many years old, and my memory isn't as good as I remember it to be, but it seems that the original may have used simply, house or home, instead of motorhome.

I'll do better next time. Promise.

May all the holes in your path hold large, fuzzy spiders.

 

[Ian14]

The Tarantula Collective on YouTube have a video called Spiderling Nursery that may well help you.

 

[MJInsoCal]

.... the inside bottom of the frig along one side.....

<roflmao>

First, thanks for some great info. Second.. you have me thinking if I was going to do this, a wine fridge would work great. I'm prob too preoccupied with growth rate. Everyone feels this temp range is safe... prob not worth the hassle. But it would be a fun project.

 

[aprilmayjunebugs]

Yes, and I stand corrected. And I'm a bit embarrassed that I hadn't caught it before this, myself.

That is a plagiarized quote, taken off the Internet, and altered a bit. The quote is many years old, and my memory isn't as good as I remember it to be, but it seems that the original may have used simply, house or home, instead of motorhome.

I'll do better next time. Promise.

May all the holes in your path hold large, fuzzy spiders.

Well, since it was plagiarism I guess you are forgiven

Honestly, if I had realized who I was nit picking beforehand I probably would have kept it to myself, lol. I'm not familiar with your work, I only know who you are because of this lovely community here, but I admire your accomplishments and the knowledge you are so gracious enough to share.
You know, one of my favorite parts of this hobby is the fact that there's always more to learn. Non of us, not even the most knowledgeable ones, know everything there is to know. That, and people like you, are what make this forum so valuable, so thanks for sharing and I hope to keep seeing you around. Happy RVing!

 

[Python Patrol Exotics]

I live in the mountains of northern cali, where we lose power due to snow storms every winter. I have around 75ish specimens ranging in size from 2i slings to Adults. New world and Old Worlds, from fossorial to arboreal. Basically a little bit of everything! And I find no reason at all to supplement heat, although we do keep our house at a comfortable heat. During power outages we do uses pace heaters.