# Heat Mats & Dubai Roaches



## AlanK (Jan 4, 2013)

I am trying to start up a colony at moment but have bought a rather large tub from Ikea which is probably a bit too large if I want to keep the roaches in high density.

With this in mind I have only filled half the tub with egg crates and put the food on trays in the bottom of the other half. I have two 20w heat mats on the inside of either side (only managed 80f with one)

Humidity is about 50-60% although there is moisture collecting on the lid so not sure how much I trust this - I currently have the gauge suspended about 1/4 of the bottom hanging over the front of the egg crates slap bang in the middle. The temp here is also about 90-95f. There are 4 3" holes cut in the lid with gauge (cross stick stuff) covering them

1) Is this the best place to measure temp/humidty? 
2) Should I be concerened about moisture collecting on the lid suggesting it is too high?
3) I tried moving one of the mats under the tub instead of side and temps jumped to 105 - is this too high?

Cheers guys!


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## zzxxy (Aug 28, 2011)

I have 2 colonies and one of them is in the samla 65l container from ikea. I have one tub inside another with the heatmat ( 29" x 11" 35watt Habistat ) around the outside of the inner tub. There is also polystyrene insulation between that and the outer container in order to keep the heat in. 
I very rarely get condensation but i've found that too few or too many roaches can cause it ( i never fully understood why that happened ) or, that the room temperature is too cold and therefore where the heated inside of the container meets the cooler outside, condensation occurs. I have 2 air holes cut into the lid of the container that are the width of the central strip on the lid and are about 25% of the overall length of the lid each. they seem to prevent any condensation these days. 

The temperature in my box sits at around 31c which is 90f, I don't worry too much about humidity but from memory, it sits at about 50% in there. I measure my temps etc from the middle of the box even though it's only heated for about 50% of the surface area of the sides. 


Hope this helps. 

Daz


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## AlanK (Jan 4, 2013)

Cheers,

It may have been a post from yourself that I originally got the idea about insulation as I had intended to have two boxes but it would need a pretty big box to have any air gap and the next size down from the one I got seemed far too small. Instead I have bubble wrap wrapped round the box a couple of times.

Will keep an eye on humidity as dont want it too high but from experience with my spiders several years ago, too much ventilation meant keeping temps up was impossible so hesitant to be cutting more holes just yet.

Your guys breed ok at 90f? One thing I have noticed is that they seem to be a lot more intereted in food since putting up temps as always now seem to a few on the fruit and veg.. but then I thought they may just be up there trying to escape the heat.


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## koyotee3 (Aug 8, 2009)

: victory:45 watt mat on a stat under the tote will give you good temps mine sit at 96,,just move probe to get temps right


AlanK said:


> I am trying to start up a colony at moment but have bought a rather large tub from Ikea which is probably a bit too large if I want to keep the roaches in high density.
> 
> With this in mind I have only filled half the tub with egg crates and put the food on trays in the bottom of the other half. I have two 20w heat mats on the inside of either side (only managed 80f with one)
> 
> ...


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## zzxxy (Aug 28, 2011)

I've lowered mine to 31c as i was getting overrun but they are still breeding albeit slower. I used to sit them at 33c and they were rampant at that temperature. 
You can use bubble wrap for insulation - it does the same job. The only problem with that is that you have to get the amount just right if using the 2 tub trick


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## AlanK (Jan 4, 2013)

So 106 isn't too bad then, maybe keep it high to help get them started at it then :whistling2:


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## zzxxy (Aug 28, 2011)

You need to cram them in too. A smaller enclosure would be good for that


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## AlanK (Jan 4, 2013)

Well checked again tonight and they were all really active compared to what they have been. Several out and about rather than hiding in crates. Lid soaking though yey humidity only 65 max so tried putting the gauge near the top.


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## zzxxy (Aug 28, 2011)

Are these being kept in a cold / cool room? that could explain the condensation occurring.


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## AlanK (Jan 4, 2013)

Not particilarly cold but more like 60-70f at best.


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## zzxxy (Aug 28, 2011)

That could be the reason for the condensation then. that's a fairly big temperature differential between outside and inside. When i moved mine to a warmer part of the house, i stopped getting any condensation on the lid. Are you misting the roaches or, just using the moisture from the wet food ( apples etc. ) to regulate the humidity?

Daz


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## AlanK (Jan 4, 2013)

That pretty much standard night time in my house 

Had water gell but now just fresh fruit on top. No spraying.


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