Heat mats!

[Joanna Pendleton]

At the moment I'm not using a heat mat but I will be in the colder months. I am now intending to get a long heat mat and attach to the shelf behind the enclosures.

Problem is Ive been on the spider shop website, they have a choice of heat mats, with varying watts. What watt am I looking for? Not really sure how this works! Is the watt just related to the size of the matt? Also, do I want a long heat mat or a long heat strip?

Thanks guys! x

[Nicola Dolby]

To be honest Joanna as long as you havve a thermostat which can carry the wattage everything should be fine. I'd recommend using a thermostat regardless as it saves having to keep checking the spiders all the time (not that you wouldn't be doing that anyway)!

[paul fleming]

The size of the tank/s you are heating will help.
I also think a stat is a must as the above post states.
Any size mat which is not stat controlled ,can get very, very hot.
Paul

[Mandy Clinch]

I don't use a heat mat for any of mine after reading a lot of stuff saying room temp is ok.....am i wrong? Should i get a mat?

[paul fleming]

you are wrong.
Different spp. require different temps but room temp is maybe 73F and all my spiders require a lot more than that.

[paul fleming]

I can't edit so I will say that 78F is the average....some a tad higher but none lower.

[Eleanor]

Mandy, it depends on what your room temperature is. In my house, it has been known to drop as low as 9 degrees in the living room! (No, I'm not totally impervious to the cold, but we heat the room with a log fire which is obviously only lit when we're there). However, if you have a 'sensible' room temperature you'll be OK. My animal room is heated to between 22 and 24 degrees C and none of my spiders have any extra heating than that. That covers quite a range of species from different parts of the world.

Joanna, the wattage of all the mats marketed for heating exotic animals is usually related to their size, so a long one will be a higher wattage. You may just want to google to find out the wattage of the size you require, and of course follow Nicola and Paul's advice about thermostats.

[JensFalk]

Never use a heatmat at the bottom of the terrarium.

[Joanna Pendleton]

I wasn't intending to, nor have I ever done so, don't worry x x

[Dave Shinn]

I recently came across a really good company based in Scotland for heat mats, their prices are very reasonable, I paid £6.49 for a 4"x5" mat! Postage is £2.49, I ordered Monday evening and the mat arrived Thursday afternoon. Less than a tenner altogether and the cheapest I'd been able to find a mat that size was £12 without postage! Their website is www.forttex.com and they also have an eBay shop