Temperature vs. light: circadian rhythm

Estein

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
153
Hey all. I live in a house with four other people who like varying temperatures, and the time has finally come to get a space heater for my Ts. Now that I've started using it and thinking about how best to mimic a temperature cycle for my Ts (all NW terrestrials--G. porteri, G. pulchripes, LP), I've run into with an interesting dilemma. I think the answer will ultimately be "Eh, it's probably alright," but I wanted to get y'all's opinions on the subject because it's something I haven't had to consider.

On an energy/money-saving level, it would be better for me to have daytime autumn temperatures in my house be the low-temp ~half of the day, but keep the heater on at night and have that be the higher-temp section of the 24hr cycle. Otherwise, given the temperatures the house stays at with four people trying to fight over the thermostat, I would have the heater on pretty-warm during the day and not-so-warm at night. (As far as why I want to use the heater when a cooler room-temp would probably be just fine for the Ts at night--I'm trying to facilitate faster growth for my slings.)

So here's the actual question: Would a spider's circadian rhythm be interrupted in any way by having the daytime portion of the cycle be cooler and the nighttime portion of the cycle be warmer, when this is generally the opposite of what would happen in these spiders' home habitats? Or would temperature compensation win out?

As I said, I imagine this wouldn't make a huge difference, but the question got me to thinking and I'd love to hear what thoughts y'all have.

As a thanks for your input, here's a terrible joke my entomologist boyfriend just told me when I said I was looking into circadian rhythm in spiders:
Q: Why do some cicadas come out every thirteen years and some every seventeen?
A: The later ones lost their cicada-ian rhythm.

:rolleyes: Thanks, y'all.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
No one really knows. There's no scientific data I'm aware of looking at temperature inversion while maintaining a normal rhythm.

Scientists have found arachnids certainly do have genes that are part of an animal's circadian rhythm, but there are no studies on these genes, nor their proteins with arachnids to answer your question.

It MAY throw them off a bit, it may not. It would likely depend on the temperature difference, and the species. No one would really know.

The temperature inversion itself may be enough to throw them off or not.
 

Venom1080

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Sep 24, 2015
Messages
4,611
On an energy/money-saving level, it would be better for me to have daytime autumn temperatures in my house be the low-temp ~half of the day, but keep the heater on at night and have that be the higher-temp section of the 24hr cycle. Otherwise, given the temperatures the house stays at with four people trying to fight over the thermostat, I would have the heater on pretty-warm during the day and not-so-warm at night. (As far as why I want to use the heater when a cooler room-temp would probably be just fine for the Ts at night--I'm trying to facilitate faster growth for my slings.)

So here's the actual question: Would a spider's circadian rhythm be interrupted in any way by having the daytime portion of the cycle be cooler and the nighttime portion of the cycle be warmer, when this is generally the opposite of what would happen in these spiders' home habitats? Or would temperature compensation win out?
ll.
i asked the same question some months back. my heaters on from aprox 7pm-7am, it gets up to maybe the low 80s at night and then cools down to about 71 or so throughout the day. my room is also dark nearly all the time. no issues. all my spiders are growing great and no losses to report. the general answer i got was that it wasnt even a issue. :)
 

Estein

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
153
i asked the same question some months back. my heaters on from aprox 7pm-7am, it gets up to maybe the low 80s at night and then cools down to about 71 or so throughout the day. my room is also dark nearly all the time. no issues. all my spiders are growing great and no losses to report. the general answer i got was that it wasnt even a issue. :)
Shoot, I thought I had done a pretty thorough search before posting. :rolleyes: Thanks for your input--it's good to hear that you've had a positive experience so far!
 

awiec

Arachnoprince
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
1,325
Breeding seems to be one of the few times some control of temperature makes a difference. The general consensus is that if you feed your spiders often and keep them warm they grow faster (within a certain range) except for a few of the cooler climate species. I do have an A.seemanni that does react to temperature as around April/Early May when we stop using the space heater, she seals herself in her burrow until I turn the space heater on again in October.
 
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