Heat mats

[Denny Teasdale]

Hi everyone, I'm looking to get a chile rose in the next 48hrs and was wondering if I need a heat mat straight away or could I leave it a week...? The room it'll be in is quite warm during the day, comfortable enough to wear a tshirt, but we don't have the heating on after 10pm till 5am...i was just wondering if this would be okay or not...

[Michelle Howarth]

I don't use heat mats for my spiders, I just heat the room they are in. The spider will be fine with no additional heat if the room is over 20 degrees C (preferably warmer than this - I aim for about 24 degrees C), however with the cold temperatures we are having, I wouldn't leave the spider unheated at night. A heatmat attached to one side of the enclosure (not underneath, best to put it on one side so the spider can choose how warm it wants to be) would probably be advisable. A thermostat is also useful to make sure the heat mat doesn't over heat.

Hope this helps, Denny.

(I bet you are mega excited now)

[Denny Teasdale]

Yeah i'm getting excited now...! The owner of the shop did tell me, as i've got a glass terrarium, to raise it off the heat mat if I couldn't get a thermostat straight away. Will probably put it on a timer to coincide with the heating going off. Thanks for that Michelle appreciated.

[Stephen jordan]

Hi Denny, my spiders are in the only heated room so I have set all thermostats to night time temp and heat the room instead. At night I just turn the heating down and the thermostats kick in if it gets too chilly for them. I'm waiting for a spider to arrive too, had a Chaco golden knee on order for a while but the snow put a stop to that.

[Denny Teasdale]

Well I bought a heat mat and placed it under my terrarium with a cm gap as advised by the shop owner and I've switched it on last night...I have got an issue though, when I got up this morning @0515 the tank had condensation inside and the ambient temp was just below 20c...is this to be expected..? also do I need the mat below the retreat or not..?

many thanks in advance

[wayne balcombe]

Denny as mentioned on Michelles post the heat mat should not be placed under the tank. This is for a number of reasons, most importantly you may cook your spider if it cannont get away from any direct heat, also the heat from a heat mat will not travel through more than a couple of cm's of substrate and most species will require much deeper than that.

The problem you are having with regulating the heat is down to where and how you are using the heat mat, it should be place (taped) on the back or side of the tank with a peice of polystyrene foam sheet attached to the outside of that to stop heat radiating away from the tank.

Just to re-itterate, do not use a heat mat on the bottom of a tank especially not where the burrow is located, always attach heat mats to the back or sides of the tank and where possible use a low wattage thermostat to regulate the heat to the desired level.

[Denny Teasdale]

Cheers Wayne...the one I'm using is 7w...would that be okay to use directly on a glass tank or would I need a gap between it and the tank...? Sorry to be a pain...!

[Aaron Annal]

Hi Denny
If on the back or side of the tank then directly on the glass with polystyrene over the mat to stop heat loss from other side
Aaron

[Denny Teasdale]

Thanks Aaron...and to Michelle, Stephen and Wayne for the help...appreciated...

[James Box]

With G. rosea NCF/porteri, ie the Chile rose, in the wild they are subjected to cool, dry conditions, so i doubt they'd need a heatmat at all in our climate.

[Daniel Richardson]

I dont like heatmats at all,i've had more bother with them than without them,and like someone said-with them being from chile,they prefair it cooler-spiders can cope alot better with cooler temperatures then high one's. My house is normally about 24ish during the day then heating goes off and its being dropping to about 17c at night and mine are fine,dont forget-in the wild temperatures dont stay the same all year round. Dont bother with a heat mat-it'll be fine trust me-i'll buy u another if it aint lol.

[Stephen jordan]

I agree with James there, I'd do some research on climate conditions for the general area they are found. They are the best goal posts to play with.

[Aaron Annal]

I must admit i dont use heatmats either i used to but dont think they need them in my house now tbh

[Mark Shingleton]

hi, just reading threw this thread and got to thinking... my taratula room is usualy at about 25 C, the cage temp is usualy a degree or so lower and i have heat mats on the back of the enclousures... the spiders dont seem to mind and are often found dozing by the heat mats... is the room warm enough to take the mats off... also, i know this is not a thread about burrowing but my new river rust rump burrowed under his water dish and it collapsed with the weight, he started doing a few home inprovements after and now has only one little collum in the centre holding up the substrate, is thier any thing i should do to stop the rest collapsing or will it be ok... i think it only caved in because the dish made th substrate directly below a bit soft, hes only little and i would much prefer a 3d t to a flat one...

[steve wilkins]

spidershop says chile roses get aggressive & prone to threaten & bite if kept too warm- they need to be kept at 70-75f, no warmer.