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.
Thanks, y'all.
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.
Thanks, y'all.