# Do I Really Need A Heat Mat?



## ChameleonFan1989 (Feb 14, 2012)

Hi

I purchased my first ever tarantula on saturday which is a curly hair which is a spiderling right now and living in a cricket keeper. But the pet store told me they needed a heat mat but from various sources say its bad for them and not needed.

Also I'm kinda reluctant to believe 100% everything the pet shop says since they told me not to give it water but give it a jelly pot.... so yeah, go figure lol :whistling2:

Is this true, can they survive fine without one as my house never goes below 65F at night and can all species survive without a heat source? 

I actually used to have very bad Arachnophobia years ago but after purchasing my little guy. That fear totally went, feel silly I was scared of something that wasn't scary to begin with :blush:


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## ajd (Jul 14, 2010)

If your comfortable in a t-shirt then your t will be fine. Chile is much cooler than the UK. Definitely water over gel to. Welcome to the hobby


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## Madeyes (Mar 1, 2014)

> my house never goes below 65F


 Think the curly will be fine with an ambient room temp not going below 65F. Generally speaking if anything I'd only worry about temps getting to high.

Think your curly spiderling will get enough fluid from prey, droplets and a little bit of damp sub, you may find just prey alone will be ok when it's still small.


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## jaybott (Mar 12, 2014)

Nope you don't need one


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

Curly Hair (Brachypelma albopilosum) come from Costa Rica and Honduras, so quite a tropical environment. I keep mine off-dry with enough substrate to burrow, but they rarely do that as adults.
As slings a water supply is simple to provide, so I question why people don't, there's no cost factor! It's important to provide moisture for slings as they cannot retain the moisture levels that adults can, their bodies aren't equipped to do so yet. Nature gives us a clue here, slings are often raised during the wet season!
As long as your temps aren't falling into the 50s it should be fine.


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

ajd said:


> If your comfortable in a t-shirt then your t will be fine. Chile is much cooler than the UK. Definitely water over gel to. Welcome to the hobby


curly hair t's are from honduras, not chile which has a cool climate.



jaybott said:


> Nope you don't need one


depends on the species. some will stop eating below 65f.


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## lee middleton (Nov 25, 2011)

I got slings at moment and I'm keeping them on damp substrate at typical uk room temp, feeding them maggots weekly and there growing really well had one die in 2 months out of 160 odd left out of the sack, I find keeping it a bit damp when there slings helps them molt .

The adults I have despise damp substrate and will sit high in the tank till it dries out when I spray them. They are kept at same Temps as slings unless I'm breeding them


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