The proper use of heat mats

[GrandeAssiro]

First of all, thank you to the both of you for your answers!
@The Grym Reaper : my room temperature on winter is around 18°C since I don't suffer cold that much (meh... Not really cold but you got the point right?) so I am considering getting a small heat mat with a good thermostat that will eventually turn it off. I have also seen a project made with Arduino to smoothly keep the temperature at a constant value.
@Dorifto : one thing that is not missing in my home is an excellent ventilation! Also I made a lot of holes in the enclosures and yep, they both have their tiny dish of water that I fill every time they are empty.

I think I know what to do now. Again, thank you so much!

 

[VaporRyder]

Hmm. Looks like gas supply might get a bit sketchy here this winter (most UK homes have gas central heating) and I may not be able to bask in the low 20s (C) as planned. Might have to get my heat mat game sharpened up…

Why is Britain facing gas supply problems and what does it mean for household bills? — The Independent

Rationing of supply is a real possibility if Europe has a harsh winter

apple.news

 

[GrandeAssiro]

Same stuff here in Italy. Luckly enough my home run on electricity only.

 

[HeartBum]

Hmm. Looks like gas supply might get a bit sketchy here this winter (most UK homes have gas central heating) and I may not be able to bask in the low 20s (C) as planned. Might have to get my heat mat game sharpened up…

Why is Britain facing gas supply problems and what does it mean for household bills? — The Independent

Rationing of supply is a real possibility if Europe has a harsh winter

apple.news

Ughhhhhh this didn't age well... *cries in poor*

 

[Dorifto]

Lol, reading this thread again make me think that I would be paying 300€ in bills if I had to use the space heater

 

[ant ramblings]

Electricity prices are linked to gas prices because alot of electricity is made using gas powered power stations that's why its all going up .
I have to keep my t's in the garage in the uk so but even my house room temperature in the winter is around 17 c that's 62 f but when it's cold outside it drops to around 13c 55.4f .
We won't be putting the heating on much this year prices are already four times higher than last winter and about to go upto eight times higher .
It always makes me laugh watching American YouTubers saying if your comfortable your trantula is comfortable . then in the next breath saying never use heat mats .
I come from the world of ant keeping so heat mats and cables are normal .
Everyone knows that heating the room or space heating is best that's not debatable .
How much that costs is very debatable in the uk especially now .
I am still striving for the perfect set up in the garage to get through winter .
Currently have everything inside an insulated weed growing tent with a heat cable wrapped around the inside of the large tub and a heat mat on the bottom with the probe sitting on the egg box that the bottom layer of blasplas enclosures sit on.
I have a bluetooth monitor inside one of the bottom enclosures and one ontop of one of the top ones for ambiance .
Still working on it think i need to insulates outside the box more my garage hits 5c 41f
in the winter at times i know because its perfect to hibernate my ants.
Even at 17c 62f a heat mat or cable that's even 10mm 0.39 inches away from the side of the thing you want to heat will basically not do anything to the inside of the enclosure .
I want to heat the whole box my t's are in not the enclosures and that's fine when temps are above about 18c 64f .
thermostat probe location is very important !!
Do you want to know the temp inside the enclosure or the temp of the mat ?
I would say temp inside the enclosure every time .
I personaly think better insulation to the Set up i already have will. be my answer we already have 12c 53.f outside in the uk and its 16th september .
Just thought i would add my knowledge about heat mats because one hell off alot off people in europe will need them this year .
Also drilling glass enclosures is easy with patience .

also forgot to say heat cables don't have the same heat along the entire length it varies allot.

 

[bjjpokemon910]

In my old house we could reach 7°C 44'5F in winter, as the house didn't have any insulation or heating method at all. In my new house I don't have such issues, so the heating is now disconnected.


I use like 1cm of mortar and another one of hard clay. Once I filled it with substrate I noticed that the entrance was too narrow, so I modified a bit, so the real entrance differs a bit. From top to bottom like 10cm of substrate heigh difference. Maybe comparing this two photos you can get an idea of the slope. Also she used the burrow I made for her since day one, rearranged some things but it's almost untouch. She also made a web tunnel behind the wood that connects with her burrow, so now she has two hides in one.

View attachment 395848 View attachment 395849

This is freaking beautiful

 

[Dorifto]

This is freaking beautiful

Foam background enclosure tutorial

Hi guys, seeing that some people are asking about how I made my setup, I´m going to make a litlle tuto about it. It may look difficult, but It was more easy than I thought. The tools: - A propper enclosure, I choosed the European style glass enclosures, since they are cheap, they have a great...

arachnoboards.com

More pics and info

 

[loveispain]

Thank you for this!
Is there a website or a book where I could learn more about the heating mats?
Thanks again

 

[ant ramblings]

That's how i did it in the end .
I now have a heat cable across the back of the top shelf as well . made this video a while ago now but it's still basically the same i am just heating both shelves and a fare few sliders are rehoused in larger enclisures now .

 

[Max1211]

So i attached my heat mat on the side of my Hamorii enclosure and she sits right on the glass where the heat mat is located so what am i supposed to do? Should i place the heat mat somewhere else or should i let it be there?

 

[darkness975]

So i attached my heat mat on the side of my Hamorii enclosure and she sits right on the glass where the heat mat is located so what am i supposed to do? Should i place the heat mat somewhere else or should i let it be there? View attachment 439471

They gravitate to the warmth. That's why the mat goes on the side and not the bottom.

 

[Max1211]

They gravitate to the warmth. That's why the mat goes on the side and not the bottom.

Ok but is there a risk of her burning herself? I have a thermostat which is set on 22 degrees.. I wanted to make it 23 or 24 but i am a little bit concerned when she sits right beside it

 

[darkness975]

Ok but is there a risk of her burning herself? I have a thermostat which is set on 22 degrees.. I wanted to make it 23 or 24 but i am a little bit concerned when she sits right beside it

Whats the ambient temperature in the room?

 

[Max1211]

Whats the ambient temperature in the room?

around 20 degrees

 

[darkness975]

Technically that is okay for an arid specis of that size. Mine are in a bit colder in the winter months. You can probably try turning it off. Mine still eat and sit there for hours on end like they always do.

 

[Max1211]

ok i will turn the heat mat off and have a eye on the temperature so thanks!

 

[Introvertebrate]

Ok but is there a risk of her burning herself? I have a thermostat which is set on 22 degrees.. I wanted to make it 23 or 24 but i am a little bit concerned when she sits right beside it

What makes you think that she doesn't know which temperature is best for her?

 

[Dorifto]

So i attached my heat mat on the side of my Hamorii enclosure and she sits right on the glass where the heat mat is located so what am i supposed to do? Should i place the heat mat somewhere else or should i let it be there? View attachment 439471

I'd use a smaller heat mat, covering a small portion of that side. You don't want to heat the whole enclosure, only a small spot, even less if your room temp is around 20s...

Always provide temp gradients, using deeper substrate zones to provide cooling spots.

 

[Introvertebrate]

If I see my Ts gravitating towards a heat source, I figure I've got the temperature dialed in right. If they're headed in the opposite direction, I'll lower the setting.