Heating tips for a large collection

Hi Everyone

Just looking for some advice for heating a large collection. I have a big collection currently but plan to extend this further over the coming months. Currently I am using individual red bulbs for each tank. These bulbs are attached to individual in-line dimmers so the bulb can be dimmed down or turned up thus affecting the temperature. This method works great for me and had planned to use the same in my new setups. My concern is obviously the electricity bill because of the number of bulbs I will have on. Does anyone have any tips of other methods of heating for a large selection of tanks? I have always had concerns about heat mats and have stayed clear of them. Mainly because of being unable to adjust temeprature.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Yes. Look for a decent space heater. I have been using lasko space heaters for the past 3 years with no problem. Just look for one with a thermostat that you can set up the temperature you want for night and day. I have to warn you though this will dry out the air in the room. Mine takes the humidity down to 30%-40%. So it may dry out your tropical stuff faster. This cost me a extra $20 to use per month on my bill.

Hope this helps!

Have you thought about halogen bulbs? You can have several in line on a dimmer, and you'll also get the same amount of heat at lower wattage than incandescent bulbs.

I mostly use mats/strips with thermostats, though. I've got control of the temp., they're hidden away behind everything and I don't have to replace them every few months like bulbs. I heat a collection of several hundred scorpions with about 240 watt of mats that have stats. Not all of the mats are on all the time either because of the stats and some are also on timers to go off at night. The shed they are in is very well insulated, which helps. I also use other obvious tricks such as putting insulation foil behind the mats just to get every last bit of heat out of them.

I'm having a similar trouble at the moment. Got a separate room for the scorps that's currently heated by 50w bulbs scattered around the racks on timers and dimming stats. Now that I'm looking to expand a bit more I've been wondering if I could save some wattage by using an energy efficient space heater.

My trouble is I'm not sure if heating up the whole room is the way to go for me as I have other things in there as well like T's, and bullfrogs that don't like it as warm as the scorps so I'll probably have to stick with the bulbs.

Anyway I'd say you shouldn't need a bulb for each enclosure, when they're all close together like on a shelf rack you should be able to heat a few enclosures with each bulb. Really depends on how you have things set up as to whether it would be best to go with bulbs, mats or a space heater.

This is something that interests me a lot. We don't often get to see how others set-up their large collections as a whole.

Hi Everyone,

Many thanks for all your replies. Really good advice. Better weigh up my options.

Thanks again,

David.

Jay wrote:

I'm having a similar trouble at the moment. Got a separate room for the scorps that's currently heated by 50w bulbs scattered around the racks on timers and dimming stats. Now that I'm looking to expand a bit more I've been wondering if I could save some wattage by using an energy efficient space heater.

My trouble is I'm not sure if heating up the whole room is the way to go for me as I have other things in there as well like T's, and bullfrogs that don't like it as warm as the scorps so I'll probably have to stick with the bulbs.

Anyway I'd say you shouldn't need a bulb for each enclosure, when they're all close together like on a shelf rack you should be able to heat a few enclosures with each bulb. Really depends on how you have things set up as to whether it would be best to go with bulbs, mats or a space heater.

This is something that interests me a lot. We don't often get to see how others set-up their large collections as a whole.

Actually most of your tarantulas will not mind extra heat. I've kept most of mine at 85-90 last summer. However there is a couple tarantulas that will not tolerate that type of heat such as P. subfusca highland. Most T's will not mind. May have to feed more though.

As for bull frogs I am not sure.

The other thing if you decide to stick with bulbs is make sure your using the dome reflector type to get the most out of them, also the the garage style wire shelf racks are good as the heat can pass through the shelves and the dome clamp lamps can be positioned anywhere around it.

You're right they could handle it warmer, I don't have any that need it specifically cooler and the frogs need mid 80's anyway but I do prefer to keep the scorps a little warmer. It's not too bad at the moment because I'm only using 200w of bulbs but maybe when I add to it I'd be better off with a real low wattage space heater.