Keeping Hissers Warm

[Kaddock]

I would like to keep my Gromphadorhina portentosa colony warm enough to breed... I have a digital probe thermometer in the middle of the eggcrate castle in my ten gallon enclosure, and I can't get things above 75ish F. I am burning two sixty watt lamps with their cones (vented) directly sitting on the wire mesh lid. So... ######? Should I line the lid with foil? I had some success with this in one of my mantis enclosures... Should I go for 100 watt bulbs? Would that actually make a heat difference?

Help please!

:mellow:

 

[Emile.Wilson]

I would like to keep my Gromphadorhina portentosa colony warm enough to breed... I have a digital probe thermometer in the middle of the eggcrate castle in my ten gallon enclosure, and I can't get things above 75ish F. I am burning two sixty watt lamps with their cones (vented) directly sitting on the wire mesh lid. So... ######? Should I line the lid with foil? I had some success with this in one of my mantis enclosures... Should I go for 100 watt bulbs? Would that actually make a heat difference? Help please!

:mellow:

why not buy a heat mat and put under tank

 

[Kaddock]

why not buy a heat mat and put under tank

Do heat mats heat the whole tank or just the direct area? My last heat mat that I bought when I first got mantids didn't even heat up the tank whatsoever... bad heat mat?

 

[Katnapper]

I'd suggest insulating around the container. You could put your bin inside a bigger bin and fill the gap with an old blanket or something. Or you could put a heat mat under the bin too. Not sure what else to tell you. Good luck!

 

[PhilinYuma]

If you don't think that a heat pad will heat the whole area, try running heat tape attached to a thermostat around all four sides of the tank at the bottom or on the bottom itself. Check it out at yr local pet store or on the 'net.

 

[Kaddock]

Thanks! I will give the tape a try I think! I've got it up 77.8 with the lamps! :lol:

<_<

 

[Peter Clausen]

Check this out...88 degrees with a single 100 watt bulb. Get a cone shaped bulb housing from your local hardware store (about 10 bucks). I have a metal-screened lid ($10 at Petco). Just set the fixture down on top of your lid and watch the magic happen! But, make sure you wet down part of the cage regularly or your nymphs will dry out.

 

[Hypoponera]

I keep mine in a ten gallon glass tank. The bottom has about a 1 inch thick layer of moss. There are a couple torn-up cardboard egg cartons. The top is covered by a layer of plastic window screen which is held down by a Petco steel mesh lid. The Petco lid is too course to hold first to third instar nymphs.

I placed a two heat mats under the tank, one at either end. I also have a single metal cone holding a 20 watt helical florescent light bulb. This combo keeps the tank at between 90-95F. Within a year I had too many roaches. I have since removed one of the heat mats in an attempt at slowing down reproduction.

 

[Kaddock]

Well, Hypoponera, since you sent me my roaches and have too many, maybe I will take a less extreme method! :lol: Thanks again by the way, they make great snacks for my mantids. Now if only I could figure out a way to stir fry the large ones...

Peter, so only one 100 watt does this for you? I have basically the setup you described, mesh petco lid, cone shaped lamps... Just that I am using two cone shaped lamps, one about 6" across, one about 4", each with a standard 60 watt... I burned them for 48 hours and temps never got above eighty! I didn't realize wattage made such a difference... are you using a much larger cone? I honestly want the cheapest solution, and lamps are cheap compared to the tape / temp controller setup... How big is your cone?

Thanks all!

 

[Kaddock]

Oh, and Hypoponera, you say the petco lid is too course... Why not just make a barrier of vaseline around the top of the tank to keep them away from the lid entirely?

EDIT: Along these lines... for anyone who has used this method: Do you need to replace the vaseline layer very often? IE, will it eventually "dissipate"?

 

[Hypoponera]

Don't use vaseline!! At temps above 75-80F, it starts to get runny. It will be running down the side of your tank in a matter of hours. Once it gets fluid-like, you will start to find smaller nymphs stuck in it and dead. I have some Fluon coming and expect it to work better.

 

[Peter Clausen]

By the way, Kaddock, I never noticed your sub-title there about the roachforum being all "wack". Why do you feel that way? It looks like you got two responses there (I wrote one of them).

 

[Kaddock]

Don't use vaseline!! At temps above 75-80F, it starts to get runny. It will be running down the side of your tank in a matter of hours. Once it gets fluid-like, you will start to find smaller nymphs stuck in it and dead. I have some Fluon coming and expect it to work better.

Hm, I'm at 85 now and the vaseline hasn't changed consistency... I will keep an eye on it.

Thanks everyone. This discussion is moving over to the roach forum again it seems.

Roach forum isn't wack!

EDIT: There it goes... it's not liquefying, it's breaking up and sliding in plates! But only in one area... OK, after a 15 minute search, I am coming up on a lot of dead ends for buying Fluon... Where did you get it???

 

[Hypoponera]

The closest I could find is a product called "Insect-a-Slip" at Bioquip. It has not been shipped yet so I do not know how well it works yet.

 

[Rick]

Did you try a different probe? I would think two 60w's should heat that way above 75 unless your ambient temps are really low.