Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Please read this as it may save your home or life...I have about ten ceramic bulbs housed in ceramic domes rated to 250 watts in my various cages. I turn everything off when I go on vacation, and upon plugging in my cages on return one dome started crackling and smoking with a very foul black smoke and the cord burned straight through (where it meets the ceramic socket) and fell off the dome (live, of course). I turned off all my stuff and examined each bulb and dome throughout my home. What I found was that several of my Exo-Terra bulbs were disintegrating at the contact point and causing disintegration within the ceramic housing.(see photo below...the Exo-Terra bulbs are on each side, a ZooMed bulb in the middle for comparison). I just bought a BUNCH of these Exo-Terra bulbs from LLL reptile supply within the past several months as they were on sale. I have never had this problem with my Pearlco or ZooMed ceramics (in fact, I have one Pearlco bulb that is still going strong more than a decade). I am planning on talking with LLL about it, not that it is their fault or anything, but I have found them to be reasonable in the past. I am also planning on informing Exo-Terra about it.

Sorry...picture attached:

I switched mine to ESU ceramic heat bulb as prefer that to zoo med but either way same thing happened to my Exo- Tera bulb but I smelled it burning .

This is going back few months than just threw it away and replaced it with ESU . Their black light incandesecent bulb runs great for a yr now and love it esp black light look but their ceramic heat burnt just like yours .

Thank god for your post! I was gonna get the CHEs from Exo as well next week. I'm going to go with Zoo med or some other brand now... Which is the best?

I myself love ESU my ceramic bulb burns all winter and fantastic not the slightest problem but I have never used Pearlco and that seems to be the one the experts love .
Been around long time never heard anything but good things about it even some lasting years and years.

My zoo med was great no problems either but didnt seem to be as strong watt per watt as this ESU . I have heard what that person has posted about Exo from others .

In my case smelled it burning than burnt out before I unplugged it no fire or destruction of the temp controller rheo but made me nervous and never went back to that brand but love their incandesecent black light bulb thats well made and LOVE their cobra heat pads .

I think you cant go wrong with Pearlco or ESU if you buy from herpsupplies that advertises in kingsnake ask him whats best he has helped me lots .

I have used Pearlco, ZooMed, and ExoTerra over about 15 years of reptile husbandry. I have nothing but good experience with Pearlco and ZooMed. I have one Pearlco ceramic bulb that is over a decade old and still functions perfectly and looks great (believe me, after what happened I took ALL my ceramics bulbs out and examined the bulbs and sockets). I once bought a Pearlco ceramic bulb from LLL Reptile that was a dud, but they replaced it without a problem. My ZooMed ceramics look just as good, and my oldest one is about 8 years old and still working fine. I am going to THROW OUT all my Exo-Terras, unless LLL reptile supply wants them back or Exo Terra wants them for examination. This hurst because I just bought a bunch of these on sale over the past year. I am considering sending the bulbs to whatever agency looks into dangerous products (?the Federal Trade Commission?) if ExoTerra doesn't want to look into this, as this was a very definite fire hazard and I'm lucky nothing bad happened.

You could send the bulb to the GVMT organization that approves it for sale in America so they look into it so no one has their house burnt down.

I was foolish not to but thought it was a freak thing .

I have a few Pearlco ceramic bulbs that have been going for years and years with no issues. I have one that I have used off and on for about 7 years with no problems.

I had the same problem. After two months the ceramic bulb burned the inside of the ceramic socket and melted/burned the cord right off. Luckily that happened because it stopped the power to the heater so there wasnt a fire. It also melted the contact on the bulb itself and a BUNCH of black powder fell out when I unscrewed it from the socket. The bulb was rated at 150watts and the socket was rated at 250watts (I think, im 100% sure on the socket though...)

This is part of the reason im sticking to smaller herps...
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Leopard Geckos 1.3
Bull Frog 1.0
Bearded Dragon 1.0

What brand of ceramic bulb were you using when this happened? I am so glad that you and others on this post didn't have serious fall-out (like loss of lives/house burned to the ground), however, it does make me really wonder if there ever has been a house fire caused by this type of product malfunction that just isn't traced to the cause.

if you post in other sites you will see others have same complaint about same co . Meanwhile I find their cobra heat pads best ready to use UTH i ever used but I am suprised their ceramic bulb is still sold without being fixed .

Exo-Terra
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Leopard Geckos 1.3
Bull Frog 1.0
Bearded Dragon 1.0