problem mainting heat.

paperheartz · Post by **paperheartz** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 4:08 pm

So, i know the proper het i ned to maintain is 75-85 and if left at 70 for too long it can be deathfully harmful. I also read a post that recommended when buying a UTH to buy one 3 times the sizee of your tank. Well. I did not know that and my husband and i are currently flat broke. He lost his job and we bought some new thingss for our hermit crabs but now all money left is for bills so buying a new heater is or anything for that matter is out of the question. So, i was wondering if tthere are any suggestions to maintain heat. I have a problem with the heat towards the evening. And on cooler days when we are in the 80s. It has dropped to about 74 if not 73-75 barely. My circumstances are we live in back room. So, i can not move them to another room. With that said we are in a single back room with a window ac. It is not exactly a proper room so it doesnt have too much proper ventilation. In the winter the crabs and i are fine. Not only does the room maintain heat on its own but i have a small electric heater it keeps heat very well so winter isnt an issue. Summer on the 100 degree days because even with the ac the room reaches 77 and their tank with their heater on maintains 8 or 81 and drops to 75 at night. But its the days where we are at 87 or 88 degrees ( by the way i live in san bernardino california) that i need the ac on. I personally have a condition where i am alergic to the heat and sun. So, when the room wont drop below 77 i cant help it. But when it can drop lower i need it lower. I try to maintain 70-73 for my health. Any higher and i tendd to get drasticly sick. In the summer i usually vomit alot and am constantly sick. So now you know the enviorment circumstances let me let you know about the tank. Oh wait, we also have windows in our room so in the winter i can open them to get fresh air and in the sumer i run the fan ook so moving on. The tank is 16.5 gallons. Eco earth and sand. Glass tank the hater is side mounted and is a 30-40 gallon heater zilla heat matt and is 16 watts. The lid is mesh kinda its a vented lid. For humidity i keep seran wrap on the lid and every morning i lift it on the edges to get fresh air in. So humidity is never an issue for me even when their tank reeaches 80 its perfect humidity. So my issues are on cooler days and at night. Mainly night. Ive tried to keep the room at 75 for them at night before for their health but i couldnt doo it. I woke up sweating and vomited and had a headach the next day. And even when i sacrrificed for them the heat on rose to about 74-76 so i need help to work with what i got to maintain their heat please. I have tried putting fail on top to maintain heat, on top of the seran wrap and it works a little but blocks light and i would like a diffrent solution.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:51 am

I'm sorry your having such difficulty in maintaining a proper heat level for your hermitcrabs but don't worry we are here to help. First if you only have PP's they can tolerate temps as low as 60 degrees for very short amounts of time like a couple of days before anything drastic happens.PP's are the hardiest of all the hermitcrab species basically they are the A1-Abrams Tank of hermitcrabs it takes a lot to get them down and even then they are particularly resilient.When the temps dip to the 70 degree area for too long which would be four or more days consecutively the crabs will stop moving and you'll notice that they aren't eating or drinking and thats because their bodies are going into protective mode and its easier for them to survive sub-par climate conditions by going immobile and conserving their resources than to try to burn to many calories by keeping active when its just a bit too chilly.What the cold does is it slows down their digestive system and that makes it harder for them to process their food and water and extract the nutrients they need out of them so they'd rather not move at all then to waste the effort to move.If you have exotics like Ecuadorians they are a little different because where they come from the temps never drop below 75 degrees all year round so they need a constant temp of 75 to 85 degrees to be healthy and active they don't do well with low temps for multiple days in a row.As for increasing the heat output of the pad your currently using you could use some of the reflective insulation that a lot of us use you can find it at almost any home improvement store it works well at redirecting all of the available heat from the pad back into the enclosure though you have to keep an eye on the pad for the first few days just to be sure it isn't suffocating or overheating.You can actually still get the benefits of the insulation and vent the pad a little bit by keeping one corner of the insulation raised up where fresh air can exchange with the back of the pad this should effectively raise the tank time another three to four degrees approximately.I understand your short on money right now so don't feel rushed and as a matter of fact its actually normal for the temps to drop about three to five degrees at night in the hermitcrab native habitat this is why they are nocturnal its more comfortable to move around in 75 degree night air than to try to move around in the day time when the temps can be as high as the upper 90's where most of them comer from so don't worry about the night time temp drop as that is not long lasting it really doesn't effect the crabs.

jenok · Post by **jenok** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 8:51 am

@crabber couldn't cardboard be used also just like the foam insolation? I was thinking that I read that somewhere, just cut a piece of cardboard to go over the back of the pad and tank.With the reflective foam insolation is the Styrofoam supposed to be touching the pad or the silver reflective part? Or does it matter?

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 9:02 am

The sliver reflective(this is a heat reflecting surface) side is supposed to be aimed in to the tank as that is what causes the heat to be bounced back into the enclosure.Yes Laurie uses cardboard on her tank her entire back wall is covered with the cardboard to help keep the heat in.

jenok · Post by **jenok** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 9:41 am

Thanks, I think I've got mine backwards but it worked.

paperheartz · Post by **paperheartz** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 1:48 pm

Sorry I haven't replied....in short life happened.... v.v and its been so hot latly I haven't worried too much. In better news my husband might have gotten a new job! Yaaaay! And thank you so much! I knew they could stand a drop in cold temps for a little but I didntknow they were that resiliant. And yes I have all PPs I try not to might species just because its easierforme to take care of them. So I will definatly be getting that insulation because its suppose to becooler soon but not cool enough I can turn the ac off. Thank you again so much! You guys are the best. ^_^ goodthink I'm only 3 blocks away from a home depot.