Help with heating

[scaryfeet]

Hi all!

I need a little advice if anyone would be so kind. I've searched the internet for a while and can't find a solid answer that I am satisfied with, so I come to ask people with experience.

I'm currently getting a set up ready for 5 different mantid species. Most are said to be kept at room temperature, but I would prefer to give them a little heat. I've found from experience that they thrive with a little extra heat source. I've used a heat mat before on my terrarium, but I now have 5 seperate plastic tanks that I want to heat.

I am thinking of a heat/uv lamp, but can I heat all 5 tanks with this? How far away does it need to be away from the tanks to be safe? Is there another way to heat them? The person I bought a mantis from recently said she heats hers with a regular desk lamp, any thoughts on this?

Thank you for your time!

Jo

 

[maybon]

Hi Jo. I use a heat lamp with a 40 watt and 70 watt bulb. I use the 70 watt on colder days and the 40 watt on semi-warm days (winter in Melbourne Australia). I have the bulb in an old aquarium light holder and have it attached to a shelf above where I keep the mantids and it is about 4-8 inches away from the top of the containers. They stay between 21ºC at night and 28ºC during the day. I have it centered over 10 mantids all in separate containers, 4 in large round tubs, 4 in deli cups on top of that (small species) and then the other 2 are in slightly larger deli cups.

Since mantis often hang out at the top of the enclosure a heat lamp from above works well in my opinion and they can run down to the bottom if it gets too hot.