What is the best heating source for scorpions?

[zephyrcoltan]

yea, the title says it all, what's the best heating source for scorpions (more specifically a P. imperator)

 

[superuglyllc]

exo terra lighting always looked liked they put more into there bulbs then anyone else /nightglo /infared /daytime lights have always been my choice. zoomed uth stickon pads also if needed, i liked

 

[Roblicious]

25w red party bulb from lowes for 3 bucks and a lamp dome + clasp for 8 bucks also from lowes/home depot

 

[superuglyllc]

i'd spend the extra 3 bucks , those lights are paint red . the exos are the color of the glass,plus exoterra using words like" neodymium " nightglo really seals the deal :biggrin:

 

[Michiel]

Just ordinary plain red bulbs are the best (for me)......no need for exo terra moonlight, nightglow, ultra radiant bla bla bulbs......they add nothing other than depletion of your funds.....

 

[snippy]

Why red bulbs? I use simple halogen lamps with GU10 socket.

Regards
Finn

 

[Michiel]

Scorpions will behave normally during their normal nocturnal activity periods under red light. The red light does not bother them. Normal white, and halogen light, does effect them, because they hide from it....

Sent from my GT-I9001

 

[snippy]

Yes, I am aware of that

The reason I ask is that it is rather unusual to be hot in the nighttime when the sun is down. So why not heat during day and emulate the sun, too. When just using red light wouldn't the lack of visible light be somewhat unnatural (depending on the surrounding light of course)?

Or do you even heat during the night? Then it would make sense to me.

Regards
Finn

 

[Bayushi]

I use the 25 watt red bulbs from my local, and might I say favourite, pet supply store... Home Depot.

 

[Michiel]

of course I do not heat at night. Scorpions hide from the sun so there is no need reproducing it. My scorpions have normal northern european day-night cycle. Light on and warm during the day,light off and colder during the night. That's it...

Sent from my GT-I9001

 

[Roblicious]

if you are heating a larger 10+ gallon tank, then I would spend the extra 3 bucks or so to get a 50+ watt IR bulb from whatever brand company

I use those red bulbs from home depot on most of my enclosures, but on the larger ones I opted for the 50w IR bulbs which are around 5 bucks depending or you can be a real baller and pay 15 bucks for the same ones at petco...

 

[DrJ]

I keep everybody in my reptile room. The heat from the cages keeps the room around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. So, additional heating is unnecessary.

HOWEVER, I am adamantly staunch on not using red bulbs. The light is still visible. I can see it. You can see it. It's just a differing shade and wavelength. All in all, you'd be just as well off using a blue bulb. It's darker presence allows animals to feel more secure about night-time activity, but that does not mean they are not affected by it. I have conducted an experiment in the past to compare animal behaviour using red bulbs versus ceramic heat emitters or radiant heat panels. Why compare? CHEs and RHPs allow for total darkness and natural night-time. Bulbs still produce an illuminating light...even if it's hard to see, it can still be felt. If you look into a red bulb, your pupils will still constrict rather than dilate. Anyway, after a month, the animals subjected to bulbs were much more temperamental, ate less, restless and more sensitive than the ones that were actually allowed a night-time of darkness.

 

[superuglyllc]

Exo terras blue bulb"nightglo" gives less heat at same watts then the red that's why I use them at night. 15w for small 12x12 tank

 

[Roblicious]

you dont even need to heat them at night, most people dont

there has been much debate on whether or not those 'nightglo' bulbs are even healthy for your scorpions cause they 'might' have UV in em and they make your scorpions glow just like how a black light does which over time can harm it, i have the exact setup as you 12x12 with the canopy with the bulbs, and i ditched the bulbs and went with those 25w ones, cause the canopy can only handle up to 25 watts anyways.

 

[snippy]

Bulbs still produce an illuminating light...even if it's hard to see, it can still be felt. If you look into a red bulb, your pupils will still constrict rather than dilate. Anyway, after a month, the animals subjected to bulbs were much more temperamental, ate less, restless and more sensitive than the ones that were actually allowed a night-time of darkness.

What kind of animals are you talking about? As Michiel stated before, scorpions can not see in the red spectrum, but they can see blue light. So your point is rather moot

Regards
Finn

 

[DrJ]

What kind of animals are you talking about? As Michiel stated before, scorpions can not see in the red spectrum, but they can see blue light. So your point is rather moot

Regards
Finn

If I hold a light up to your eyes, your body will react. If not, I'm blinding you. I'm sure that's just wonderful for the overall health of your animals. Furthermore, I have never come across an article proving that red wavelengths are invisible to a set type of species. Not to mention, I'm not terribly convinced that even if it were so, the red bulbs truly stay within the defined spectrum of wavelength. If it were really so simple as to place red glass over an incandescent filament, our extensive research on colour laser technology has been inconvenienced by this news. I have issues with heat bulbs all the way around.

The animals covered in each group were Eublepharis macularius, Morelia viridis, Corallus caninus and a variety of Lampropeltis; with others such as Brachypelmas, Grammastolas, Heteroscodra maculata, Pandinus imperator and Hadrurus arizonensis being affected. The experiment was mainly aimed at the keeping of reptiles, seeing as red bulbs are so "popular". Lo and behold, the only reason I can see is that they are cheap. Nobody cares about the quality of their animals, just that they can get them to survive. Well, friend, I prefer mine to thrive. Thank you.

 

[Michiel]

What kind of animals are you talking about? As Michiel stated before, scorpions can not see in the red spectrum, but they can see blue light. So your point is rather moot

Regards
Finn

+ 1........................................

 

[snippy]

Perhaps you might find that interesting: http://jeb.biologists.org/content/49/1/95.full.pdf+html
You will see a VERY significant drop in sensetivity from 500 too 600 nm.

How exactly did you set up your experiment then? Maybe the negative effects you observed have another reason? Sounds to me, like you used the bulbs during nighttime ("Anyway, after a month, the animals subjected to bulbs were much more temperamental, ate less, restless and more sensitive than the ones that were actually allowed a night-time of darkness.")? I would suspect that the fact that you heated during nighttime could explain it..

I always use red light (flashlight) to observe my specimen during the nighttime. I have never seen any photonegative reactions to this wavelenghts.

Edit: Here is another paper: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347208001632 (if you have access to it, otherwise I can quote from it if you like).

And by the way: "Nobody cares about the quality of their animals, just that they can get them to survive. " is a rather harsh assumption, how would you know?
But to emphasize, I am not trying to make a point for red light bulbs! I am just stating what I find is a fault in your logic. As stated before I find that white light during the day works fine too and I don't see any reason in using red light when heating in the daytime.

Regards
Finn

 

[superuglyllc]

@ rob , I stop using regular bulbs because the shape. The thin ones didn't melt my canopy top , I guess that's why I buy the thinner exo light. Btw great thread so far. I wana see some solid proof on the lighting because I do care about my scorps, that's why I have them...

 

[Set]

I keep everybody in my reptile room. The heat from the cages keeps the room around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. So, additional heating is unnecessary.

It sounds like you have an constant 24-hour temperature. From my understanding, it sounds like you want to create a natural environment. It would make sense then to create a range that matches the natural heating and cooling that these scorpions would be experiencing in their natural environment. In nature the tempreture changes as much as 10-15 F in a single day. http://www.climatetemp.info/ghana/

HOWEVER, I am adamantly staunch on not using red bulbs. The light is still visible. I can see it. You can see it. It's just a differing shade and wavelength.

You are correct, it's a different wavelength. Different species can see light in different wavelength ranges. Humans see from violet to red. Infrared and UV are invisible to us, but the light is still there and other species actually can see it. The same way infrared light is invisible to the human eye, red light is invisible to the scorpions eye. The heat can be felt, but the light can't be seen.

I have conducted an experiment in the past to compare animal behaviour using red bulbs versus ceramic heat emitters or radiant heat panels.
...after a month, the animals subjected to bulbs were much more temperamental, ate less, restless and more sensitive than the ones that were actually allowed a night-time of darkness.

I would be interested in seeing your data and how your study was conducted. Was this conducted in a lab setting, with all things being equal? How did you quantify the findings? How many test subjects? I'm sorry to be so skeptical, but it goes against what I have heard elsewhere.