Pinkfoot Goliath

[Taylorskye91]

I am getting a Pinkfoot Goliath. I have some questions about heating and humidity. My room where she will live stays at around 68-70°F with the ac running. How do I keep her warm without harming her. I have an air unit that blows so I have put up a plexi glass wall beside the tank to block the direct air on the tank. Some have told me heat lamp and some have said heat mat on the back of the tank on one end of the habitat. I have both that I'm not using for my Ball Python. Would love some guidance

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

View attachment 447524

I just use the search function and typed care of sheet . Probably get more information so late at night that way . It’s the magnifying glass icon.

T. Apophysis Adult Enclosure Size

Hi! I'm just wondering what size enclosure we'll need for our big girl when she hits her full size. (She's only about 4-5DLS right now, I'd guess.) We aren't planning on putting her in it, yet, obviously. Just trying to determine what people do for them, so I can plan ahead. TIA

arachnoboards.com

 

[TechnoGeek]

I am getting a Pinkfoot Goliath. I have some questions about heating and humidity. My room where she will live stays at around 68-70°F with the ac running. How do I keep her warm without harming her. I have an air unit that blows so I have put up a plexi glass wall beside the tank to block the direct air on the tank. Some have told me heat lamp and some have said heat mat on the back of the tank on one end of the habitat. I have both that I'm not using for my Ball Python. Would love some guidance

I have 2 of em, a male and a female.

Humidity is important but don't overdo it. All you need to do is ensure the substrate is deep enough and always moist but never swampy and soggy. Perfect mix IMHO is sphagnum peat moss X Cocoa fiber 1:1 in my experience. Put a large shallow water dish in there too and overflow it every now and then.

Enclosure size seems plenty good. With terrestrial Ts always aim for something with the following dimensions:

Length: 2.5X
Width: 1.5-2X
Height: 2X

Where X is the diagonal legspan of the T in question.

Make sure substrate depth is good enough, 5-6 inches is a must for this species.

Lose any heating lamps, Ts don't bask and they have no use for them, so all it would do is dry the substrate quickly (not ideal with this T). 70F is perfectly fine, but the T will grow much faster in low 80s. That said this species isn't known for slow growth so I wouldn't worry too much. If the enclosure is bioactive I'd use a led grow light as they're not gonna dry out your substrate much. Remember this ain't no desert T. The lamp should ideally be connected to a timer to give them proper day and night cycles as bright lighting 24/7 will likely stress it.

If you must heat the enclosure, stick a heat pad to the side of the enclosure, and throw in a small and cheap thermometer to see if temperature is getting too toasty. In my experience a 18 watt heat pad wouldn't make even a 5 gal tank too hot. I measure low to mid 80s most of the time. If temperature is constantly above 90 you might wanna invest in a thermostat to keep it under 85F.

Good luck!

 

[Dry Desert]

I have 2 of em, a male and a female.

Humidity is important but don't overdo it. All you need to do is ensure the substrate is deep enough and always moist but never swampy and soggy. Perfect mix IMHO is sphagnum peat moss X Cocoa fiber 1:1 in my experience. Put a large shallow water dish in there too and overflow it every now and then.

Enclosure size seems plenty good. With terrestrial Ts always aim for something with the following dimensions:

Length: 2.5X
Width: 1.5-2X
Height: 2X

Where X is the diagonal legspan of the T in question.

Make sure substrate depth is good enough, 5-6 inches is a must for this species.

Lose any heating lamps, Ts don't bask and they have no use for them, so all it would do is dry the substrate quickly (not ideal with this T). 70F is perfectly fine, but the T will grow much faster in low 80s. That said this species isn't known for slow growth so I wouldn't worry too much. If the enclosure is bioactive I'd use a led grow light as they're not gonna dry out your substrate much. Remember this ain't no desert T. The lamp should ideally be connected to a timer to give them proper day and night cycles as bright lighting 24/7 will likely stress it.

If you must heat the enclosure, stick a heat pad to the side of the enclosure, and throw in a small and cheap thermometer to see if temperature is getting too toasty. In my experience a 18 watt heat pad wouldn't make even a 5 gal tank too hot. I measure low to mid 80s most of the time. If temperature is constantly above 90 you might wanna invest in a thermostat to keep it under 85F.

Good luck!

With any form of additional heating ALWAYS use a quality thermostat - NOT a Cheap one.

This is where the horror stories stem from.
No thermostat, Cheap thermostat. = OVERHEATING.

 

[Hardus nameous]

68 to 70 F is perfectly fine; no additional heating is needed.

You may want to read through this thread: https://arachnoboards.com/threads/theraphosa-care-and-info.303033/

 

[TechnoGeek]

With any form of additional heating ALWAYS use a quality thermostat - NOT a Cheap one.

This is where the horror stories stem from.
No thermostat, Cheap thermostat. = OVERHEATING.

I said cheap thermometer not thermostat

A thermostat isn't always needed. For example with one of my enclosures I use a 10 watt heatpad that keeps temperature in one side at 80-85 tops and the other no higher than 78F which doesn't really leave much use for a thermostat.

And the reason why I said a cheap thermometer is because some of the ones specifically marketed for reptiles are ridiculously overpriced.

 

[l4nsky]

A thermostat isn't always needed.

But should always be VERY strongly considered as a fail safe if you're going to use supplemental heating.

 

[Dry Desert]

I said cheap thermometer not thermostat

A thermostat isn't always needed. For example with one of my enclosures I use a 10 watt heatpad that keeps temperature in one side at 80-85 tops and the other no higher than 78F which doesn't really leave much use for a thermostat.

And the reason why I said a cheap thermometer is because some of the ones specifically marketed for reptiles are ridiculously overpriced.

A cheap thermometer is as much use as some of the replies on this forum.
A cheap thermometer can be 10/15 out either way so not a lot of point really.
And giving advice saying " a thermostat is not necessary" is crap.
You only need ambient conditions to change ie weather heat wave, window light etc, you then have an uncontrolled heating situation and

"My t's been cooked" post, yet again.

 

[TechnoGeek]

A cheap thermometer is as much use as some of the replies on this forum.
A cheap thermometer can be 10/15 out either way so not a lot of point really.
And giving advice saying " a thermostat is not necessary" is crap.
You only need ambient conditions to change ie weather heat wave, window light etc, you then have an uncontrolled heating situation and

"My t's been cooked" post, yet again.

This is just a hot mess. While I appreciate you being worried about the well-being of these animals, you should've done more research.

So here are the thermometers that I was discouraging OP from buying:



And


It's pretty silly to spend 10 bucks on an obsolete analog thermometer or 25 on a basic digital one when you can get away with less than half as much.



Or these are the ones I use:



This last one I compared to the thermometers my central heating system uses, as well as my 900 dollars Garmin watch sensor and they're pretty much spot on. While there could be a variation on the order of fractions of a degree, it could easily be due to where they are placed in the room and such a difference isn't very meaningful for the purpose of keeping animals anyway.

Are there temperature sensors that could be off by 10+ degrees?? Possible, tho I haven't seen any that were this bad. Temperature sensors are very crude tech and even digital ones have been around for ages and are incredibly cheap and easy to make. Those who tried tinkering with arduino and raspberry pi projects know that the sensor itself costs pennies to make (you can buy a 37 sensor kit for the arduino for like 40 dollars Canadian), and the digital screen at this size is barely more expensive. These things don't need to cost over 20 bucks to be good. Buying stuff that's marketed for "tarantulas" or "reptiles" is a ridiculous waste of money.

But should always be VERY strongly considered as a fail safe if you're going to use supplemental heating.

True, although this depends on the enclosure size and your ambient temperature. A 10 or 8 watt heat pad placed on on side of a 10 gallon enclosure that's not sealed will barely increase temperature by maybe 10-15 degrees Fahrenheit at most at that side, the other side would be far cooler.. sometimes at room temperature.

For example, I keep my house at 65C year round, and with such a setting (8-10 watt 10 gal aquarium) I've never measured more than 80F in several years.

That said, if you don't have central air conditioning that keeps your property at a given temperature in the summer, then yeah I would say a thermostat is a must have especially if you live somewhere warm. Just in case you get a hot day and it's like 82F ambient temperature. 10 to 15F higher than that and the Ts could be in trouble.

As always I ain't an entomologist, I'm just a hobbyist sharing my experience here (as is everyone).

 

[Dry Desert]

This is just a hot mess. While I appreciate you being worried about the well-being of these animals, you should've done more research.

So here are the thermometers that I was discouraging OP from buying:

And

It's pretty silly to spend 10 bucks on an obsolete analog thermometer or 25 on a basic digital one when you can get away with less than half as much.

Or these are the ones I use:

This last one I compared to the thermometers my central heating system uses, as well as my 900 dollars Garmin watch sensor and they're pretty much spot on. While there could be a variation on the order of fractions of a degree, it could easily be due to where they are placed in the room and such a difference isn't very meaningful for the purpose of keeping animals anyway.

Are there temperature sensors that could be off by 10+ degrees?? Possible, tho I haven't seen any that were this bad. Temperature sensors are very crude tech and even digital ones have been around for ages and are incredibly cheap and easy to make. Those who tried tinkering with arduino and raspberry pi projects know that the sensor itself costs pennies to make (you can buy a 37 sensor kit for the arduino for like 40 dollars Canadian), and the digital screen at this size is barely more expensive. These things don't need to cost over 20 bucks to be good. Buying stuff that's marketed for "tarantulas" or "reptiles" is a ridiculous waste of money.


True, although this depends on the enclosure size and your ambient temperature. A 10 or 8 watt heat pad placed on on side of a 10 gallon enclosure that's not sealed will barely increase temperature by maybe 10-15 degrees Fahrenheit at most at that side, the other side would be far cooler.. sometimes at room temperature.

For example, I keep my house at 65C year round, and with such a setting (8-10 watt 10 gal aquarium) I've never measured more than 80F in several years.

That said, if you don't have central air conditioning that keeps your property at a given temperature in the summer, then yeah I would say a thermostat is a must have especially if you live somewhere warm. Just in case you get a hot day and it's like 82F ambient temperature. 10 to 15F higher than that and the Ts could be in trouble.

As always I ain't an entomologist, I'm just a hobbyist sharing my experience here (as is everyone).

Firstly you advise the OP to throw in a cheap thermometer.

Then I say these are the ones you discouraged the OP to use and show the cheap analogue ones that are renowned for being inaccurate.

I don't need to do more research my friend, I've been in the hobby since late 1979 and I only use an infrared digital laser gun for setting up and checking temperatures.

 

[TechnoGeek]

Firstly you advise the OP to throw in a cheap thermometer.

Then I say these are the ones you discouraged the OP to use and show the cheap analogue ones that are renowned for being inaccurate.

I don't need to do more research my friend, I've been in the hobby since late 1979 and I only use an infrared digital laser gun for setting up and checking temperatures.

Well, the ones I recommended are 12 bucks by 3 bucks.. I understand that cheap means different figures to different people but this is pretty cheap in my books

I guess I should've listed the ones that I personally use. By the way, I didn't discourage op from using analog ones exclusively, I also posted a digital one but I don't recommend it cause it's ridiculously overpriced.

I really dunno why you decided to grab this point and run with it if you been in the hobby for so long.. decent digital thermometers don't need to be pricey, this shouldn't be news to you if you been doing this for decades

 

[Taylorskye91]

I have 2 of em, a male and a female.

Humidity is important but don't overdo it. All you need to do is ensure the substrate is deep enough and always moist but never swampy and soggy. Perfect mix IMHO is sphagnum peat moss X Cocoa fiber 1:1 in my experience. Put a large shallow water dish in there too and overflow it every now and then.

Enclosure size seems plenty good. With terrestrial Ts always aim for something with the following dimensions:

Length: 2.5X
Width: 1.5-2X
Height: 2X

Where X is the diagonal legspan of the T in question.

Make sure substrate depth is good enough, 5-6 inches is a must for this species.

Lose any heating lamps, Ts don't bask and they have no use for them, so all it would do is dry the substrate quickly (not ideal with this T). 70F is perfectly fine, but the T will grow much faster in low 80s. That said this species isn't known for slow growth so I wouldn't worry too much. If the enclosure is bioactive I'd use a led grow light as they're not gonna dry out your substrate much. Remember this ain't no desert T. The lamp should ideally be connected to a timer to give them proper day and night cycles as bright lighting 24/7 will likely stress it.

If you must heat the enclosure, stick a heat pad to the side of the enclosure, and throw in a small and cheap thermometer to see if temperature is getting too toasty. In my experience a 18 watt heat pad wouldn't make even a 5 gal tank too hot. I measure low to mid 80s most of the time. If temperature is constantly above 90 you might wanna invest in a thermostat to keep it under 85F.

Good luck!

Thank you so much! I did away with the heat lamp and put a heating pad on the back of the tank and a heat ammiter

I have 2 of em, a male and a female.

Humidity is important but don't overdo it. All you need to do is ensure the substrate is deep enough and always moist but never swampy and soggy. Perfect mix IMHO is sphagnum peat moss X Cocoa fiber 1:1 in my experience. Put a large shallow water dish in there too and overflow it every now and then.

Enclosure size seems plenty good. With terrestrial Ts always aim for something with the following dimensions:

Length: 2.5X
Width: 1.5-2X
Height: 2X

Where X is the diagonal legspan of the T in question.

Make sure substrate depth is good enough, 5-6 inches is a must for this species.

Lose any heating lamps, Ts don't bask and they have no use for them, so all it would do is dry the substrate quickly (not ideal with this T). 70F is perfectly fine, but the T will grow much faster in low 80s. That said this species isn't known for slow growth so I wouldn't worry too much. If the enclosure is bioactive I'd use a led grow light as they're not gonna dry out your substrate much. Remember this ain't no desert T. The lamp should ideally be connected to a timer to give them proper day and night cycles as bright lighting 24/7 will likely stress it.

If you must heat the enclosure, stick a heat pad to the side of the enclosure, and throw in a small and cheap thermometer to see if temperature is getting too toasty. In my experience a 18 watt heat pad wouldn't make even a 5 gal tank too hot. I measure low to mid 80s most of the time. If temperature is constantly above 90 you might wanna invest in a thermostat to keep it under 85F.

Good luck!

Thanks! I did away with the lamp and put in a heat emitter instead and then a heat pad on the back of the tank. I have a digital thermometer and hygrometer to monitor the tank for 2 days before I pick my T up

 

[TechnoGeek]

Thank you so much! I did away with the heat lamp and put a heating pad on the back of the tank and a heat ammiter

Thanks! I did away with the lamp and put in a heat emitter instead and then a heat pad on the back of the tank. I have a digital thermometer and hygrometer to monitor the tank for 2 days before I pick my T up

I highly doubt you'll need both a ceramic heat emitter and a heat pad but if you do use both definitely use a thermostat.

If I were you, I'd just lose the che and keep only the heat pad unless your house gets really really cold, as in below 60F cold.

 

[Taylorskye91]

I highly doubt you'll need both a ceramic heat emitter and a heat pad but if you do use both definitely use a thermostat.

If I were you, I'd just lose the che and keep only the heat pad unless your house gets really really cold, as in below 60F cold.

It stays about 68 where we are housing the T. We just turned off the emitter to see how the temperature and humidity stabalize

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

It stays about 68 where we are housing the T. We just turned off the emitter to see how the temperature and humidity stabalize

My temps are 70-74 year round depending on what my dad sets on the air /heat. Not sure if 68 is much of a difference but let’s see what everyone else says . Wouldn’t be surprised if it dips to 68/69 occasionally here in the basement. But I got no temperature gauges down there so it’s probably 70+ most the time.

 

[cold blood]

Please for the love of god don't go chasing humidity numbers...they require damp sub, that's it, the air above the sub's humidity is basically irrelevant...throw away the hygrometer, it will only get you into trouble. Damp sub, when it dries, add water, its that simple.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Please for the love of god don't go chasing humidity numbers...they require damp sub, that's it, the air above the sub's humidity is basically irrelevant...throw away the hygrometer, it will only get you into trouble. Damp sub, when it dries, add water, its that simple.

How does this mis information get so popular ?? Does it come from the reptile hobby or just old care sheets and outdated information .. I bet spiders are dying in tree frog wet enclosures because it it .
Some genus need wet sub others don’t ? That simple ?

 

[cold blood]

How does this mis information get so popular ?? Does it come from the reptile hobby or just old care sheets and outdated information

care sheets....the bane of the hobby

 

[Kada]

A cheap thermometer is as much use as some of the replies on this forum.
A cheap thermometer can be 10/15 out either way so not a lot of point really.
And giving advice saying " a thermostat is not necessary" is crap.
You only need ambient conditions to change ie weather heat wave, window light etc, you then have an uncontrolled heating situation and

"My t's been cooked" post, yet again.

Note that many places house insurance will be void in case of a fire when using certain electronics. Worth a thought outside of the animal husbandry realm.

 

[Mike Withrow]

It's summer time unless you're in the southern hemisphere. Why in the world are you worried about a heat mat unless your keeping a incubator for ewls or you keep your home like an igloo. Big water dish,keep the substrate damp bam. Good to go. I'm speaking of the species you are referring to. If you have a spiderduck that's sitting over a water dish all day.... Probably need to add some water to the substrate.