Why does the tarantula community vehemently oppose heat padd?

[Dylan Bruce]

I can't get this either...sometimes I think the US is the only place that has furnaces and insulation...glad das Germans are up to date...I'm baffled that cold climates of Scotland and England have homes that are consistently under insulated (or so they claim all the time)...I mean, who's the hack building homes there? Its cold consistently, build your domiciles to meet the cold requirements you absolutely positively know for a fact you will have each and every year.

I live in a super cold climate, like CEC, and if I were to build an un-insulated house with an inadequate furnace, it simply wouldn't pass inspection...in other words, it would not be considered fit for human habitation and you wouldn't be allowed to move in until it was rectified.

Often I feel like everyone over there lives in tents and caves the way they talk about the cold.
Its called a furnace...the ultimate backup plan every home should already have.

For me personally I just prefer my house slightly on the cooler side which won't be bad for a T but would probably curb it's appetite and growth . It's also about cost as well Scotland can sometimes be fairly cool all year round and people don't want their heating on 24/7 meaning the heating is usually off during the night and also during the day when everyone is out at work. I also know a few people that have log burning stoves(which is not uncommon) in their living room so it keeps one room nice and warm but the rest of the house is still on the cool side.

 

[Dylan Bruce]

This is cut from the last time I explained it....


Yeah, it works really well for smaller enclosures and its also probably the most economical way to heat enclosures that I have come across.

I basically took a tub, filled it with water. Submerged a platform (often just plastic containers filled with water and rocks) and placed another stable container on that platform.

I also put maybe an inch of water in this, and this is what will hold the enclosures.

Then you place an aquarium heater in the main basin (make sure it can stay submerged or it will crack) and set your temps and you are done. The only maintenance required is the replacement of the water due to evap to ensure the top platform remains submerged as well as your heater.

Can't this be quite bad for tarantulas since they burrow ? Especially slings. From what I've read so far any heat source coming from the bottom of the enclousure can be a bad idea since in the wild the burrows are usually cooler than the outside temperatures.

 

[gypsy cola]

Well, i mean, what do you mean different "goals"?

Like, youre keeping the t at 50 degree weather for 2 weeks, its not an awful thing to do, but is that your "goal"?
Also how can you say you dont recommend it, but then string that people get overzealous onto that statement, as if that's the opposite action.

So the 50 degree thing was a few years ago, left the window open during vacation on accident. So in other words, people don't need to stress out over temperatures as much. Keeping for 7 years my room never got over 80. Never lost a T to temperature. For me, heat pads are useless. Who am I to say it is useless for someone else?

As for goals, some people want to make really elaborate enclosure, others are in it for money, research, breeding, etc.

Someone who isn't for elaborate cages, I shouldn't be holding them to a standard of highly decorated enclosures when choose to use plastic shoe boxes etc.

 

[cold blood]

Can't this be quite bad for tarantulas since they burrow ? Especially slings. From what I've read so far any heat source coming from the bottom of the enclousure can be a bad idea since in the wild the burrows are usually cooler than the outside temperatures.

not at all because its a gentle heat without hot or cold spots as the heat is diffused by the water....so they can burrow right down and never have over heating issues.

 

[Dylan Bruce]

not at all because its a gentle heat without hot or cold spots as the heat is diffused by the water....so they can burrow right down and never have over heating issues.

That's good to know, I'll keep that in mind if I ever get some slings.

 

[BishopiMaster]

So the 50 degree thing was a few years ago, left the window open during vacation on accident. So in other words, people don't need to stress out over temperatures as much. Keeping for 7 years my room never got over 80. Never lost a T to temperature. For me, heat pads are useless. Who am I to say it is useless for someone else?

As for goals, some people want to make really elaborate enclosure, others are in it for money, research, breeding, etc.

Someone who isn't for elaborate cages, I shouldn't be holding them to a standard of highly decorated enclosures when choose to use plastic shoe boxes etc.

Im really not sure why youre mentioning goals regarding appearance of enclosures when your original statement had nothing to do with appearance or type of enclosure, temperature is not under that category. I happen to be of the mind that just because you can, doesnt mean you should. Id wager that you do not leave a window open willy nilly for your t's, ie, its something to stress about.

 

[gypsy cola]

Im really not sure why youre mentioning goals regarding appearance of enclosures when your original statement had nothing to do with appearance or type of enclosure, temperature is not under that category. I happen to be of the mind that just because you can, doesnt mean you should. Id wager that you do not leave a window open willy nilly for your t's, ie, its something to stress about.

My point is simple, different types of keepers have different standards.

I have found stressing about your T's tends to leave to complication. Have your basics covered and they will take care of themselves.

I do not use heatpads, they are useless to me. Just because they are useless to me does not mean they hold value for someone else.

In other words...my standards are not a say all for everyone else and vice versa. Make sense?

 

[BishopiMaster]

My point is simple, different types of keepers have different standards.

I have found stressing about your T's tends to leave to complication. Have your basics covered and they will take care of themselves.

I do not use heatpads, they are useless to me. Just because they are useless to me does not mean they hold value for someone else.

In other words...my standards are not a say all for everyone else and vice versa. Make sense?

Do you use forms of external heating, what is the temperature for your t's, if i may ask?

 

[Richard McJimsey]

I use flex watt attached to a herpstat to heat some of my spiders. I also use a space heater for the entire room.

96% of the time there's no real reason to use a heat pad, but there are situations where one may come in handy. The most important thing to keep in mind when using a heat pad is that you'll need to regulate it with a thermostat. Albeit it's likely overkill in most situations, as I don't think you'd ever have the heat pad over 80 or so, a marginal increase over room temp. But again, there's situations where one comes in handy, like mine.

 

[cold blood]

For me personally I just prefer my house slightly on the cooler side

So do I (its more cost effective), which is why heating alternatives are discussed (and why people with space heaters heat just a room)...but the fact of the matter is that if your space heater (or whatever) goes out, its as simple as temporarily adjusting your thermostat until you get a new heater...like later that day.....hence me referring to your furnace as the ultimate backup plan. But the refusal (not yours specifically Dylan, just what many say) to temporarily up your thermostat in an emergency situation is on you...the heat is 100% available to everyone living in even a semi modern home...your heater dies and you refuse to adjust your thermostat, well, anything that happens to those ts is on you, not the broken heater because there couldn't have been a simpler temporary solution.

When its -50, I can still get my home to 80 in about 5 minutes...and I have terrible windows and poor insulation as the house is 100 years old....but I have that furnace.

Now that said, using the right kind of space heater, like an oil filled one, will allow you to use it 24/7 without killing your energy bill....some space heaters are energy hogs, like bishop mentioned...avoid those heaters

If people don't want to heat a room 24/7, that's there own decision, but they could if they weren't so stubborn (as alternatives certainly available as we discussed)....keeping animals often means extra costs...IMO if you aren't willing to dish out that little extra cost, you might want to think about a fish instead....or at least concentrate on species that have minimal heating requirements...there are lots of them.

 

[Dylan Bruce]

But the refusal (not yours specifically Dylan, just what many say) to temporarily up your thermostat in an emergency situation is on you...the heat is 100% available to everyone living in even a semi modern home...your heater dies and you refuse to adjust your thermostat, well, anything that happens to those ts is on you, not the broken heater because there couldn't have been a simpler temporary solution.

When its -50, I can still get my home to 80 in about 5 minutes...and I have terrible windows and poor insulation as the house is 100 years old....but I have that furnace.

Yeah I 100% agree. If my heat mat was to break for whatever reason I wouldn't hesitate to borrow a space heater from someone or just bump up my heating untill I could source a new heat mat. At the end of the day the top priority is the health of my animals not how much it's going to cost to keep them. A heat mat is just what seems to work for me day to day

 

[Rob1985]

I use a heat pad in my T microclimate setup, which is a 75 gal. glass terrarium. The heat pad does a good job of creating enough heat to keep the temp inside at 75 degree F and the microclimate allows for better humidity.

The enclosure of a T setup doesn't need a heat pad, it's better to regulate the ambient temp. Plus most of us don't use a glass enclosure so a heat pad wouldn't work anyways.

 

[Rob1985]

Depends on the kind first off, the oil based heaters don't use near as much energy. Secondly no, my electricity bill hasn't raisen anywhere near that much.

I have a DeLonghi oil heater in my bedroom for the winter. My bedroom is less dry, because it's radiant heat and the heater heats the room up quickly!

 

[dragonfire1577]

I feel when necessary they can be helpful like when the room is too cold or so but I can never stress enough heat pads absolutely need a thermostat or they can reach ridiculous temps for seemingly no reason. Not sure why but I've had them heavily warp plastic when they malfunction out of the blue so although a heat pad with a good thermostat constantly heating a spot to 80 degrees may be safe but one slapped on with no regulation is definitely a hazard to the spider.

 

[Andrea82]

@boina
Not sure about electricity and gas bills in Germany, but here in the Netherlands, those are pretty darn expensive.
@everyone else
I tried an oil radiator, or a heat fan, and saw my bill rising from 90 euro a month to 250 a month....that was not an option. So I purchased a heat cable, added some cable holders in the T cabinet, and all are safe and warm, and my bill isn't sky rocketing anymore. I don't place them ON or UNDER the enclosures, I place the enclosures near the cable. The cable in question has a core temp of 38°C, it is only slightly warm to the touch, and where I place the enclosures it is roughly 23/25°C, which is ideal, especially in winter. Temps are picking up here so it now only is on at night, if at all.

@Kendricks hit the nail on the head. Heat mats aren't dangerous, the people who use them wrong are the cause of those horror stories.
It's a bit like why there is an instruction warning manual with a microwave that reads 'do not put live animals in this device'. Apparently some people were actually stupid enough to put a live animal in their microwaves, and sued after because their animals didn't survive.

Common sense people. If a heat mat reaches temps over 40°C, of course it is not healthy for your spiders!

Rant over....

 

[Tanner Dzula]

seeing all these posts about how to heat up your T's, and I'm over here trying to figure out how to not Over heat mine over the summer haha

 

[Andrea82]

seeing all these posts about how to heat up your T's, and I'm over here trying to figure out how to not Over heat mine over the summer haha

That is a lot harder indeed! You can't put a fan on the enclosures, I don't think they like that, and if you have NW, u-hairs are going to be all over the place.
But then again, Theraphosidae can handle higher temps in general, save for members of the Megaphobema genus.
How are you planning to cool? How hot does it get over where you live?

 

[MGery92]

@Andrea82 , @Tanner Dzula What about an air-conditioner? I know that not everyone has it, but I have one and if we are talking about higher temps, I'm really curious about it. Is it dangerous for T's? You know, it came earlier than the lil' spiders. Of course, the machine is in the room, and it isn't blows cold air exactly on them.

 

[Andrea82]

@Andrea82 , @Tanner Dzula What about an air-conditioner? I know that not everyone has it, but I have one and if we are talking about higher temps, I'm really curious about it. Is it dangerous for T's? You know, it came earlier than the lil' spiders. Of course, the machine is in the room, and it isn't blows cold air exactly on them.

I have zero experience with airco to be honest, but I guess it is okay if you keep the room your spiders are in between 20/27°C, and yes, make sure it doesn't blow on them. Keep an eye on the waterdishes, they might dry up quicker.

 

[Jason B]

He lives in arizona, which means most days during june july and august his temps are over 100, these also get days over 100 in may and september, these are just averages i looked up for phoenix since i got a little curious. Another thing is its dry desert heat.