Simulating seasonal fluctuations of temp/humidity vs artificial heating

As it starts to creep into autumn here in the Northern Hemisphere and the temperature drops slowly, I have already seen few threads where keepers are inquiring about keeping their Ts warm. Such questions brought me to create this thread.

I would like to discuss if this practice of keeping Ts at 75-82 year round is a bad practice, or not.
AND
If a simulation of seasonal fluctuations, where temps are 75-82 in the "summer" and drop to maybe 65-75 in the "winter".

Opinions? Experiences? Do you artificially heat your Ts? Do you not artificially heat them? Why to either?

Source: http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/roses.html#shift

I don't use any special heating for any of my inverts. In the summer it might get 76 in the house at most and in the winter it my get 68.

Biollantefan54 said:

I don't use any special heating for any of my inverts. In the summer it might get 76 in the house at most and in the winter it my get 68.

Click to expand...

Why do you do this if I may ask? Convenience? More natural cycles? Just curious.

Convenience. It doesn't seem to impact them in any way and I don't have to go out of the way to do anything.

Biollantefan54 said:

Convenience. It doesn't seem to impact them in any way and I don't have to go out of the way to do anything.

Click to expand...

Perfect! Thanks a lot. Do you think having them in lower temps (68-72) them for ~6 months affect their growth rate? Do they eat less during this period of lower temps in your experience?

Sorry for the question heavy response. Just trying to get insight to your husbandry and results. Thanks again.

It would definitely impact their growth. Their metabolism would slow, they would eat less and thus grow slower. And it is fine

Biollantefan54 said:

It would definitely impact their growth. Their metabolism would slow, they would eat less and thus grow slower. And it is fine

Click to expand...

Cool. Made sense to me as well Lol but you know, practice vs theory doesn't always match.

Biollantefan54 said:

I don't use any special heating for any of my inverts. In the summer it might get 76 in the house at most and in the winter it my get 68.

Click to expand...

My winter temps are similar, 64-66 at night and 68-72 during the day. In the summer its warmer as I tend not to use an air conditioner very often. The reason I keep like this is simply because that's the temp my house is for me. General t rule: If you are comfortable, so are your t's.

The vast majority of species have zero reason to add heat and can easily handle and function normally with temps in the 60's and even lower for shorter periods of time. There would be no adverse effects of keeping heat steady throughout the year, it will actually increase appetite and growth, especially with slings (which I do heat via a heat bath). I only heat slings to speed them out of the sling phase as quickly as possible, and only because its my personal preference. Problem with heating is that most methods considered are not safe, such as heat pads or lamps. Best method by far, hands down, is to get a space heater and heat the room they are in.

The only time seasonal fluctuations would be needed is in the case of breeding with some species where seasonal changes can be a needed trigger. BTW, you're in Texas and therefore have no reason to even consider added heat to any species....your definition of cold is considered warm by northern standards....in fact our summers can often be cooler than your winters, still no critical reason to add heat IME.

During the summer it gets up to 83-86 in my T room and falls to about 78-80 at night. In the dead of winter, I have a space heater and humidifier that keeps it 71 degrees with 55-60% relative humidity. It makes misting in the winter easier to do it that way so I don't have to respray every other day.

Misting is highly overrated...in 14 years I have yet to use a mister except maybe when I talk to an older dude that I don't know....as in "hey, thanks mister".

cold blood said:

Misting is highly overrated...in 14 years I have yet to use a mister except maybe when I talk to an older dude that I don't know....as in "hey, thanks mister".

Click to expand...

So how do you keep your burrowing species humid? A simple water dish isn't going to stop the substrate from going bone dry all the way down.

dredrickt said:

So how do you keep your burrowing species humid? A simple water dish isn't going to stop the substrate from going bone dry all the way down.

Click to expand...

I utilize a dropper or syringe to pinpoint the added moisture onto specific places on the substrate, which actually has a significantly longer term effect than does misting, of which the effects are gone in mere hours. I also use that syringe to place strategically droplets on the webbing for drinking with heavier webbing species, like my versis or Psalmos.

cold blood said:

I utilize a dropper or syringe to pinpoint the added moisture onto specific places on the substrate, which actually has a significantly longer term effect than does misting, of which the effects are gone in mere hours. I also use that syringe to place strategically droplets on the webbing for drinking with heavier webbing species, like my versis or Psalmos.

Click to expand...

Ok I see what you're saying, I guess I actually do the same thing. I use a sprayer, but I use the full stream function and spray it down through the vent holes (it basically just drips), so it penetrates. I guess misting was a misleading term to use on my part, lol. I like the syringe idea though, that would be much easier than what I'm doing yet get the same effect. Thanks for the reply.