Heating Methods

I have my roaches and T's on one of those ladder shelves in a spare room, and I also do not heat the enclosures. The shelf is about 5 feet from a big old fashioned cast iron radiator, and the room varies from 66 to 72 degrees in the winter. All has been fine.

 
I just bought this, and I am testing it out on my darkling beetles. How long does it take to heat the enclosure? Can it heat the cage through a inch or so of substrate? And do I need to use the whole cable for one cage, cause if so, I think I might have to get something to heat the whole room up.

 
hisserdude said:
I just bought this, and I am testing it out on my darkling beetles. How long does it take to heat the enclosure? Can it heat the cage through a inch or so of substrate? And do I need to use the whole cable for one cage, cause if so, I think I might have to get something to heat the whole room up.
Click to expand...
I am not sure if it is a good idea to use with darkling beetles. Others can let you know. I just use the cable with roaches.

How long does it take to heat the enclosure? It depends on how many times you let it pass on the bottom of the enclosure and how cold the room is. I keep my room at 75 F but want to drive the temp up in certain roach enclosures so they can breed. These species typically breed in the low to mid 80s. I use 3 passes of the cable on just one end of the enclosure. The sub on this end dries out. I pour water on the non-cable end and it is my wet side where the roaches drink from.

Can it heat the cage through a inch or so of substrate? Yes

And do I need to use the whole cable for one cage, cause if so, I think I might have to get something to heat the whole room up No, see above. I often use many enclosures with a single 23 foot cable. I never tape the cable to the bottom because it is a big mess and may be a fire hazard. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have other questions.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yeah I was just testing it on my beetles, I don't have any roaches to test it on yet. Thanks for answering all those questions! Just wondering, would it be bad to heat the whole room to 80/85 degrees? People usually let the roaches regulate their body temperature by giving them a warm side and a cool side, but with something like a space heater, the whole room would be warm. Would that be a problem?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
hisserdude said:
Yeah I was just testing it on my beetles, I don't have any roaches to test it on yet. Thanks for answering all those questions! Just wondering, would it be bad to heat the whole room to 80/85 degrees? People usually let the roaches regulate their body temperature by giving them a warm side and a cool side, but with something like a space heater, the whole room would be warm. Would that be a problem?
Click to expand...
80-85 F would be OK for most roach species. What species are you thinking about getting? There are a few species that do better in the 70s but I am not completely sure it is essential to keep them in the 70s. For example, I keep my question mark roaches in the 72-78 F range. They reproduce at these temps. Will temps in the 80s kill them or stop their reproduction. I don't know. Hissers, on the other hand, do great in the 80s and also low 90s.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I don't know what species I want yet, but it seems like all of them need to be in the high seventies or eighties. Let's just say that I had a rack or two of bugs. Would it be cooler at the bottom of the rack than the top? Or would the heater heat all of the room? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to know everything I can about the heating and their care requirements before I get any.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
hisserdude said:
I don't know what species I want yet, but it seems like all of them need to be in the high seventies or eighties. Let's just say that I had a rack or two of bugs. Would it be cooler at the bottom of the rack than the top? Or would the heater heat all of the room? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to know everything I can about the heating and their care requirements before I get any.
Click to expand...
Great questions...

Would it be cooler at the bottom of the rack than the top? If you are referring to a space heater and a tall rack (6 feet) yes the bottom will be a little cooler than the top. The heat will rise and (away from the space heater) it will be a little warmer 6 feet off of the floor than 2 feet off of the floor. The difference is usually minimal (2-3 degrees F) and if you are keeping a bug in captivity with such a narrow heat requirement it is going to be very difficult to maintain this. I solve this problem by turning my hepa filter all the way up and it circulates the air more evenly through out the room and you do not get these differences.Obviously, blowing a fully cranked space heater on any enclosure is probably a bad idea as it will get very hot in the enclosure.

Or would the heater heat all of the room? Yes, it will if the heater is big enough for the room but if your house is really cold even an appropriate sized space heater may not be able to heat the whole room. Also see above...

I hope this all helps. I have both...space heaters and zoo med heat cables. :)

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ok, thank you very much for answering all those questions! :D

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I havnt been breeding roaches long but i found a great place to get heaters that work Great on totes! www.southtexasdragons.com. He makes his own heaters that he sells, says they last a long time with no problems. if you go on his site he has a dubia roach button at the top of page. there you can find the heaters. may not work for what you got but i thought id throw it out there for you.

 
My house is around 67-70 all year around, I keep my roaches in a small-ish room and I have a small electric space heater that I just barely turn on, just enough to make the room 80 or so. (The space heater will automatically turn off if tipped over.)

 
In the spring / summer they stay in the garage, hot-n-balmy. Fall / winter Cholo keeps them warm B)

/monthly_01_2015/post-7268-0-93403300-1421732699_thumb.jpg

Well, not exactly but he likes napping on them. I made a box for each bin out of 3/4" foam insulation board. There are two 2" vent holes in the lid.

/monthly_01_2015/post-7268-0-57724400-1421732506_thumb.jpg

Pull the lid off...

/monthly_01_2015/post-7268-0-39908100-1421732524_thumb.jpg

Take the bin out...now you can see the spacer pieces in the corners at the bottom; these center the bin when it is inserted and keeps a gap so it's not sitting directly on the heater. This is a 7 watt heater and very consistantly keeps the interior 15-20 degrees F over ambiant. Hot, dark, cozy, sexy time... no shortage of nymphs :wub:

 

Attachments

  • IMG_3373.JPG
    IMG_3373.JPG
    72.2 KB · Views: 0
  • IMG_3374.JPG
    IMG_3374.JPG
    62.5 KB · Views: 0
  • IMG_3372.JPG
    IMG_3372.JPG
    74.8 KB · Views: 0
Last edited by a moderator:
I just grabbed a couple of these heat cables. I needed something more flexible for my shelf enclosures.

Do these need a thermostat or is it safe to use them without one?

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top