Report on Effect of Bright Daytime Lighting on Tarantulas

[Poffypoffa]

I wanted to share my anecdotal experience with using daytime lighting on my tarantulas, for those interesting in experimenting with lighting. I have been using color-changing daytime lights (that change in both intensity and color temperature depending on the time of day) on several of my tarantulas for the past few weeks.

Today my P. cambridgei was out "sunning" herself in the brightest portion of the day, with bluish early afternoon light. It did not seem to bother her. The light is about 6" above her head. I can also say that my G. pulchripes is out about 50% of the day as well, though he seems to prefer the morning and early afternoon light and goes into his den in the afternoon, coming back out near sunset.

This is of course not scientific evidence or proof of anything at all, but I wanted to share in case my experience is of interest to anyone. I am in the process of installing these lights on all of my Ts and will continue to report back if anything interesting happens. I am using these aquarium lights, which are currently $17 each on Amazon:

"NICREW C10 24/7 LED Aquarium Light for Plants, 12-18 Inches, 9W, Full Spectrum Fish Tank Light with Timer, Brightness Adjustable"

 

[viper69]

What's their heat production like?


@Dorifto What are you using for lighting?

 

[8 legged]

Thanks! It would be great if you would also share future observations of this project.

 

[Poffypoffa]

What's their heat production like?


@Dorifto What are you using for lighting?

Very moderate. I just measured the temperature of the light itself with an infrared heat gun, and it measures 89 degrees. The room temp is 73 degrees, and the enclosures themselves range between 75 and 77 degrees with the lights on, which I consider beneficial, considering that I keep the room pretty cool. I suspect the distance of their heat projection is low.

 

[Poffypoffa]

I wanted to continue to update my lighting experiment. I now have full color changing lights on my N. tripepii, L. klugi, P. cambridgei, G. rosea, G. pulchripes and a C. cyaneopubescens sling. At late afternoon lighting (white and blue) they are all currently on display other than the N. tripepii, and she is actively digging out her hide, so she's going in and out every few minutes. No one seems bothered in the slightest, and they all have dark areas they can go into if desired.

On normal days the G. rosea is out 100% of the time, the P. cambridgei is out most of the time, and everyone else splits between the hide and sitting outside. The L. klugi does not use a cave hide but instead hides under the leaves of a dracena I planted in her enclosure. They mostly all ate large roaches last night, so should not be particularly hungry (and therefore day-hunting).

Here's a few photos: