Posted by:
FR
at Sun Jul 2 22:31:27 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by FR ]
you don't need to know what the wattage is. Just test it. Put a bulb in a cage and read the temps. All your after is the temps.
You can use higher wattage to increase the temps, or lower wattage to lower the temps. The wattage itself is meaningless. The temps the bulbs produce is meaningful.
You could also use a reostat and adjust the wattage to dial in temps.
You can move the bulbs closer or farther to adjust the basking temp.
You can use moisture to control the basking temps. Dry cages will get hotter with the same wattage used in a moist cage. Evaporation causes cooling. In reality, in one set up, the temps will change with humidity and ventilation.
Angle of the bulbs will also effect the basking temps, round bulbs throw heat in 350 degrees, Flood lamps throw lite/heat in a 45 degree spread. And spotlites in an 18 degree spread. Therefore its easy to understand that the basking temps of a spot is much hotter then a flood, which is much hotter then a round bulb. Of course a round bulb with a metal reflector is between a flood and a round bulb.
So its easy to understand, with all this available you have lots of choices on how you can set up a basking spot and the ambient temps.
You see, the above is why you cannot tell someone what wattage to use. I can use a 65 watt flood incandesent to create a 150F basking spot. And another person can use a 250 watt bulb to create a 100F basking area in the same cage. Its how you use the lites and wattage thats important.
In coastal calif, room temperature is something 68 to 72 F, here at my house and in the desert, room temps is around 80F. My monitor rooms temp can be close to 90F in the summer. So its easy to understand, that will all other conditions being alike, The basking temp with be hotter in 80F room temps, then it would be in 72F room temp.
There is far more that effects this. Like mass temps. In calif, the base floor temps is in the 60's, here it skyrockets and our mass temps are outa hand. If you have a cage up against a wall, it could cook the inmates, without a lite.
All said and done, its not about wattage, its about a basking temp, period. Your really interested in the temps, not the wattage. That is whats important to understand.
Not to change the subject but in the early days on our forum. We often discussed incubating eggs. You see, we all had tons of eggs, but some had no or little experience hatching them. So the questions were about water and ratios and humidities, etc. There was plenty of egg killing going on. Until we finally figured a way to explain what I do. I said, I do not measure humidity or think of water when incubating monitor eggs. I simply check the eggs, If they need water I add it, if not I don't. I incubate eggs not water. All you have to do is gently touch the eggs to find out. After all, I am not incubating water, I am incubating eggs. Cheers
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RE: You know what, you don't need to - FR, Sun Jul 2 22:31:27 2006
