Tarantulas in the cold - experiences?

[Arachnophobphile]

I really hoped I'd never feel the need to post something like this, but I'm genuinely worried about the health of my tarantulas.

To cut a long story short, the heating in our home has failed and we are out of the area with no immediate prospect of return. We were told that the repair should be a quick fix but this has not transpired. Consequently, my tarantulas have been at home without any source of heat since last Wednesday (12th). We're currently having a cold spell in the north of England, with outside temperatures hovering above 0 in our area. We live in a country cottage, old and cold; I imagine it's about 8-10C in there. We've now been told that someone will be there tomorrow to fix things, but I obviously can't say for certain if this will be the case. I will not be home until Thursday (20th).

So, my big (quite possibly unanswerable) question is, will my Ts be ok? I only have the three - B albiceps, B emilia and A geniculata (the latter is, I believe, in heavy pre-moult - another concern).

Have others had this happen before? If so, for how long? And with what outcome? I'm preparing for the worst but I don't know if this is rather fatalistic and I'm panicking without due reason.

Any ideas, anecdotes or just encouragement would be welcome.

If you do not have a friend or family member to go to your home to help them as already asked by other members then you'll have your answer when you arrive back home.

If these were OW T's it would be dire.

You have NW's and they can tolerate severe temperature variations. However in their natural habitat they can go down deeper into the ground to escape much colder surface temperatures unlike an enclosure in a person's home that has limited depth.

It's tough to answer as IMO captive bred tarantulas seem to tolerate or adapt to temperatures more so than wild caught T's.

I've had temps dip down to 68F at home while I was at work and all my T's, adults and slings were just fine. Of course that is not a drastic drop. 46F - 50F for several days I would expect some casualties and the remaining live ones extremely lethargic. These are cold blooded animals after all.

With all that said we have Aphonopelma chalcodes that live in Northern Utah and not just survive but thrive through brutal winters here in the U.S.

Granted yours are not of the Aphonopelma genus but they are NW's and they might survive it. As mentioned also the A. geniculata will be the more susceptible one out of them.

I hope your T's pull through, no one wishes harm come to your tarantulas.

 

[Scoot]

If you do not have a friend or family member to go to your home to help them as already asked by other members then you'll have your answer when you arrive back home.

If these were OW T's it would be dire.

You have NW's and they can tolerate severe temperature variations. However in their natural habitat they can go down deeper into the ground to escape much colder surface temperatures unlike an enclosure in a person's home that has limited depth.

It's tough to answer as IMO captive bred tarantulas seem to tolerate or adapt to temperatures more so than wild caught T's.

I've had temps dip down to 68F at home while I was at work and all my T's, adults and slings were just fine. Of course that is not a drastic drop. 46F - 50F for several days I would expect some casualties and the remaining live ones extremely lethargic. These are cold blooded animals after all.

With all that said we have Aphonopelma chalcodes that live in Northern Utah and not just survive but thrive through brutal winters here in the U.S.

Granted yours are not of the Aphonopelma genus but they are NW's and they might survive it. As mentioned also the A. geniculata will be the more susceptible one out of them.

I hope your T's pull through, no one wishes harm come to your tarantulas.

Thankfully all were well. Thanks for your well wishes.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

Thankfully all were well. Thanks for your well wishes.

That's great news