Night Time Heat Bulb question

Hello, so I heat my Ornata tank with a heat light during the night time. Before you jump on me, she is out in my living room, and at night it get's to about 60 degrees. I have been using an Exo-Terra 75w infrared light, but the sucker popped on me and I am not spending another 10 bucks on one.

So, I bought a red party light, and it only got her tank to about 68 degrees unless I covered her up, which it would get to about 71 degrees. I like to keep her around 80-85, I bought a bulb from wal-mart, 75w and it turns out it lights up purple even though it shows red on the outside. I have no interest in night viewing, but am wondering if purple is visible to arachnids? It doesn't even give off much light, but it gives off more heat. Curious before I leave ti on her tonight, thanks guys.

Why do the expensive bulbs break so frequently? lol. The longest I've had one last is like 3 months. If the t could see it, it might appear similar to the moon, so imo its no big deal.

well didnt walmart start selling lights for reptiles and stuff too?...ours does....but anyway...id say for night times temps...70 is fine you kinda want a cool down period at night anyway...if nothing else just get aheat pad and a thermostat

I have one of those Zoo-Med heat pads on the side of her tank taped to it, but the damn thing never gets hotter than luke warm, waste of 20 bucks imo.

kryptix said:

I have one of those Zoo-Med heat pads on the side of her tank taped to it, but the damn thing never gets hotter than luke warm, waste of 20 bucks imo.

Click to expand...

We learned that the hard way too. It barely gets warm to the touch, and if the room its being used in is cold, then not even that.

We have a couple of Emperor scorps in our bedroom, and at night its anywhere from 62-70 degrees, and 69-74 during the day. It all depends on how cold and windy it is outside. (really bad insulation)

So we bought one of those clamping heat lamps with the big metal reflector from the hardware store and an 85-watt red floodlight from Wal-mart. Then we made a little stand by taking a scrap piece of plexi, and a scrap of dowel rod (about 3inches) mounted the dowel perpendicular to the plexi base, then we clamp the light on that and shine it through the back of the tank, up high. (can't shine ours in from the top because the top is made of plexiglass and would melt)
There's about 4 inches between the light and the tank. This keeps the daytime temps in the mid 80s, and the night temps in the lower 80s, occasionally the upper 70s.

I don't know if all that's any use to you at all, but hopefully. Our light would dry it out pretty fast if we let it.

I thought about buying one of those 85w floodlights, but for one T I thought it would be overkill, but multiple tanks I could see it. I think I am going to stick with the purple light tonight and see how warm it is for her later in the night/morning.

kryptix said:

I have one of those Zoo-Med heat pads on the side of her tank taped to it, but the damn thing never gets hotter than luke warm, waste of 20 bucks imo.

Click to expand...

Yes, I tried those pads as well and they are crap. I was actually able to return mine, thankfully. It's all about lamp heating.

Tarantulas can indeed see purple light possibly better than we can (in the sense that they might be able to see light that is smaller wavelength than what we can). Putting light on a T that it can see won't kill it, but I suspect it will encourage it to hide more than it already does...and since it's a pokie I'm guessing that's a lot.

If you place the red bulb close to the tank, then the area directly in the light's path will be warmer than the rest of the tank. Inasmuch as the T wants to be warmer than it already is, it can move into the light path. That will get it above 70, which is plenty. 80-85 is kind of overkill in my opinion. Sri Lanka has winters too.

If you are insistent on warming more than your current 25 watter can do, I'd be more inclined to get a second lamp and put it on the other side. That could look kind of cool, and it would double the heat going in there. The purple light in my opinion is just not the right color.

It's up to you, though. Good luck.

gvfarns said:

.....
If you are insistent on warming more than your current 25 watter can do, I'd be more inclined to get a second lamp and put it on the other side. That could look kind of cool, and it would double the heat going in there. ...

Click to expand...

But then the T can't thermo-regulate. It won't be able to choose where between the two extremes it wants to be. 2x25 watts would be okay heat-wise, but I would put them on the same side of the tank. I only suggested the flood light because they are made to last a lot longer than a regular house fixture bulb. But it would certainly get too hot if it was right up against the tank

kryptix said:

I have one of those Zoo-Med heat pads on the side of her tank taped to it, but the damn thing never gets hotter than luke warm, waste of 20 bucks imo.

Click to expand...

I've got three tanks set up with those, but they're on one end of the bottom of the terrariums. The probe on the thermometer I check them with shows that the substrate holds around 80. I will only use them during the winter, since summertime temps in my house stay about 80.

If you do place them under the tank, it needs to be a small enough heat pad or a large enough tank to allow for temperature gradient in the tank so that the tarantula can thermoregulate. If you place them on one of the sides of the tank, heat will radiate away from the tank on the side of the pad exposed to air - pretty much completely losing the effectiveness of the pad (or at least radically reducing its effeciency). Placing it under the tank assures that all of the heat goes into the tank - which means you do not want one that puts out a lot of heat or you'll toast your tarantula.

Bill S said:

I've got three tanks set up with those, but they're on one end of the bottom of the terrariums. The probe on the thermometer I check them with shows that the substrate holds around 80. I will only use them during the winter, since summertime temps in my house stay about 80.

If you do place them under the tank, it needs to be a small enough heat pad or a large enough tank to allow for temperature gradient in the tank so that the tarantula can thermoregulate. If you place them on one of the sides of the tank, heat will radiate away from the tank on the side of the pad exposed to air - pretty much completely losing the effectiveness of the pad (or at least radically reducing its effeciency). Placing it under the tank assures that all of the heat goes into the tank - which means you do not want one that puts out a lot of heat or you'll toast your tarantula.

Click to expand...

Do you use the little rubber feet that go on the bottom of the tank to elevate it slightly? The instructions say that if you don't you'll cause the heating element to overheat, as it has no where to dissipate the excess heat, and short the circuit. Is this BS?

Just wanted to make an observational note..... if you get the more expensive heat bulbs you can make them work longer if you shut them off for a couple hours every 8 hours or so. Leaving them on all the time seems to make them go out more often (IME). Even like an hour cool off every 8 hours will extend the life, and make sure you are using a good fixture (ceramic that is MADE for the bulb you are using...).

Cheers,
Nate

curiousme said:

Do you use the little rubber feet that go on the bottom of the tank to elevate it slightly? The instructions say that if you don't you'll cause the heating element to overheat, as it has no where to dissipate the excess heat, and short the circuit. Is this BS?

Click to expand...

I have the tanks sitting on some other padding than the rubber feet. One of them allows the heat to dissipate readily, the other two not as readily. I haven't had any problem with pads short-circuiting. (My wife and I have used these with reptile cages for years, and some of the heat pads are several years old and still working.)