Most of my 3 woodie colonies dead - cold snap

[Grunter023]

Hi there,
I have had my 3 large tubs of woodies in my shed on top of a heat cord throughout winter and they have been breeding like crazy,anyway 3 days ago I turned the heat off as its starting to warm up now,but last night we had a cold snap and temps got down to 2 degrees I think (just checked a weather site and it said it got down to -2.5 degrees overnight - don't know if thats right - but it was bloody cold!), and now most are dead or not moving much Can they die that sudden when temps get that low? I have the heat cord back on them now hoping to bring some back to life. Not real happy I can tell you that. Has this happened to anybody else? I have a spare thermostat so I think I will be using that from now on as I was always relying on myself to turn heat on/off as it got warmer/colder through day or night.

 

[bowdnboy]

bugga, sorry to hear. I have mine 24/7 on heat mat. Only turn it off in the peak summer months, so I cant help u out there i afraid.

Hope a few kick on for you

 

[JasonL]

You will have to clean them right out, the dead ones will gas up and kill the rest... I have mine on a thermostat year round... much easier.

 

[Grunter023]

upon checking them again after about an hour with heat on I can honestly say that all have come back to life,I actually placed a second heat cord on the other ends of the tubs to get the heat up quicker for the last hour,they are all running around crazy now - just a big scare - will make sure I have a thermostat from now on..whats the ideal temp for woodies to thrive and breed? around 27 degrees is it?

 

[JasonL]

Yeah, mid to high 20's, avoid 30s