Heating

Extensionofgreen

Arachnosquire
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Jun 14, 2017
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I see lots of advice stating A) not to use heat mats and B) you don't generally need to provide heat, if keeping them in a traditionally heated house.

I use seedling mats to heat my roach bins and these can easily be hooked up to a thermostat. They are designed to heat the substrate 10-20F than room temp. What is the danger with using them, if you provide deep substrate and the bottom of the enclosure isn't flat against the mat ( think of critter keepers having the little legs at the corners )?

Do you agree that desert scorps are really happy at room temperature? I know they enjoy a night temp drop and wouldn't expect they'd enjoy constantly hot conditions, but wouldn't keeping them at 80-85F be most comfortable to them, with mid 60s and 70sF at night?

When I kept Ts and scorps years ago, I heated the room they were in and since I don't have baseboard heat and my basement is kept cooler for my montane reptiles and plants, I want to make sure I'm doing things right with my incoming acquisitions. I've been away from arachnids for about 10 years, but am happy to be jumping back in and catching up on what's new in the world of arachnid husbandry.
 

Connerl8k

Arachnosquire
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Apr 27, 2017
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I have a heat Mat under my afs tank on one corner of the tank...I can often find him stood on top of that area warming himself up...I find it total nonsense when people say it will fry him he has more than enough room to get away from the heat if he wants to and it is hardly so warm it will cook him his a tropical species for Pete sake.
 

Connerl8k

Arachnosquire
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Apr 27, 2017
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Sorry needed to add that the Mat is flat against the bottom of the tank...he is not stressed...he is not unhappy...he is healthy active and has a healthy appetite.
 

ArachnoDrew

Arachnoprince
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Feb 1, 2017
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I personally hollowed out a small dresser and turned it into a cabinet area. With 1 100watt ceramic heat bulb that keeps the cabinet between 83°-95°

The heat matt thing veries.... how big is the tank. How big is the scorp. How large of a matt etc.... most of what I keep is in smaller containers that wouldn't be suitable for a heat matt..and to chime in on the heat matt under the tank, its not recommended too much especially for burrowing sp. Some people will go crazy and say it will cook the scorp but not really.... for Asian forest they "SHOULD" be housed in a deep substrate suitable for burrowing. i definately wouldn't recommend it considering it's a burrowing sp. And the purpose of scorps creating burrow are to establish a dark home and most importantly to stay cool and regulate body temps to escape the heat and day light... so when people place them at the bottom it's defeating it's purpose.
 

Extensionofgreen

Arachnosquire
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Jun 14, 2017
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I see the valid point of heating from the bottom eliminating their ability to borrow away from the heat, which in nature comes from above. My intention is to have a deep enough substrate layer that they have a couple inches of substrate between the bottom of their burrow and the heated bottom, by creating the burrows from a clay sand mixture, ahead of time. I don't think there is any danger is actually harming the scorpions, with a germination mat, but I see that it is also not the most natural approach.
What ambient temps should desert buthids experience during the active hours of the night for optimal activity? I'll have to to do some more reading and write down the day and night temps of their natural environments to better understand what my target is.
 

Rugg the bug man

Arachnoknight
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Mar 24, 2017
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@Extensionofgreen
Like @ArachnoDrew said most desert species are best with temps around 85f-95f but there are some species who's natural environmental daytime temps could be up in 100's with drops in temp around 20f+ at night (I have a few of these). But in general a drop of about 15f-20f at night should be fine. As to your question of whether or not they will be happy with being kept at room temperature IMO I don't believe they will be. Plus they will more than likely be less active and they will probably grow at a slower rate.
ATM I'm keeping several different species so it's best for me to heat the whole room and I then use a ceramic heat bulb for those species that have naturally higher daytime temps
 
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Rugg the bug man

Arachnoknight
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Mar 24, 2017
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@Extensionofgreen
I also like to mix it up with temps and not keep the same temp everyday and every night. So I use a weather app on my phone which tells me all the temps for the locals of the species I keep and then I just use the average temp from all of them for that day.
Hopefully this helps
Good Luck with your new acquisitions
 

Red Eunice

Arachnodemon
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Mar 2, 2014
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Heat mats are ok, when properly positioned and regulated via a t'stat.
I've several species of scorpions and tarantulas that are best kept above 80°F.
Easiest solution was to fabricate a heated cabinet. It is equipped w/h Flexwatt mat, t'stat, small fan for air circulation and a timer to allow night time temperature drops.
 

Extensionofgreen

Arachnosquire
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Jun 14, 2017
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For sure I was going to raise the room temperature during the day to 85-90F, as I do for the 9 species of roach I breed, but I know that some deserts get fairly chilly at night and thought that room temp might be the norm for nocturnal temps. I'll be doing some reading on the specific locations of the buthids I have coming. That's not say I hadn't researched the species' care itself, just that I need/want more detail temperature data from where they each are from. I'm a pretty thorough person, when it comes to maintaining my animals. I like to do things above and beyond, but also keep things practical. I'll share some pics of my chameleon set-up in an appropriate location to give you all and idea.
 
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Connerl8k

Arachnosquire
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Apr 27, 2017
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To be absoloutly straight with all of you my feelings are as follows.
Everyone who spouts that placing a heating Matt under your tank will "cook your scorpion" is literally regurgitating information that they were fed or read. No exceptions.
You are not only more likely to win the lottery twice you are more likely to beat Mohammed Ali in his prime
If you took up boxing age 60, than to cook a tropical or desert scorpion by placing a Heating Matt underneath substrate and glass. It is stupid, nothing more than pure stupidity and frankly I skip these posts that say you will "cook your scorpion" as the joke they are.
 

gromgrom

Arachnoprince
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Nov 30, 2009
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Certain scorpion species require >75 degree heat to molt
gravid females of most species need heat to incubate their young
I use infrared bulbs to heat my room and heat my gravid females
 

Red Eunice

Arachnodemon
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Mar 2, 2014
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Certain scorpion species require >75 degree heat to molt
gravid females of most species need heat to incubate their young
I use infrared bulbs to heat my room and heat my gravid females
Bet they aren't under the tanks "cooking" them either. Lmao!!
Dustin, sent you a text about this Saturday's show.
Gravid H. paucidens still hasn't popped. :(

Sorry OP, not trying to hijack your thread.
 

Jason Brantley

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
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Apr 26, 2011
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170
I would provide heat either through a bulb or heat pad. It will stimulate the scorpions natural environment and behavior. Just be sure to monitor the scorpion's enclosure to make sure there are no hotspots. If the heat pad is a little too warm, maybe switch to a lower wattage and they are not expensive. Heat pads don't get so hot that it will cook a scorpion. That's so ridiculous.
 

basin79

ArachnoGod
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Sep 14, 2013
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The problem with using a mat under an enclosure that has deep substrate is thermal blocking. The heat can't dissipate and builds up. If your thermostat probe isn't at that place you will find even though you've set it to say 75f the heat at the bottom of the sub will be well over 100.

Thermal blocking is dangerous and is one of the reasons why heat mats have got a bad reputation.
 

Extensionofgreen

Arachnosquire
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Jun 14, 2017
Messages
145
The problem with using a mat under an enclosure that has deep substrate is thermal blocking. The heat can't dissipate and builds up. If your thermostat probe isn't at that place you will find even though you've set it to say 75f the heat at the bottom of the sub will be well over 100.

Thermal blocking is dangerous and is one of the reasons why heat mats have got a bad reputation.

That makes good sense. What about placing the enclosure in another container, with an air cushion trapped between them, like double paned windows? I plan on getting a heated shelving cabinet or building a custom shelving system, but for now, a seedling mat, with an external thermostat is my best option.
 

basin79

ArachnoGod
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That makes good sense. What about placing the enclosure in another container, with an air cushion trapped between them, like double paned windows? I plan on getting a heated shelving cabinet or building a custom shelving system, but for now, a seedling mat, with an external thermostat is my best option.
I'm not sure what temps you'd hit with that. The best bet with mats is on the back or the side of an enclosure. That's how I have mine.
 

RTTB

Arachnoprince
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Dec 4, 2016
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An old trick is using the pie or cake cooling wire racks that are raised a few inches and place the heating pad underneath. Cuts down the thermal build up a bit.
 
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