Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was thinking about buying one of the mercury vapor bulbs because i need some more lights.

has anyone tryed them? do they work good? is 100 watt good for a cage that is 4x2x2 or should i get a 160 watt
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2 month old veilded chamleon
2 juvie crested geckos

Hi- I use them on all my cages! 100w is fine, you will not need 160w. The only thing is, avoid the T-rex active UVB bulbs, I had three and they all burnt out with in 3 months, and I am not the only one who has had this problem. I replaced them with the Big Apple Capture the sun bulbs, 2 out of the three of those bulbs burnt out with in 2 days, got them replaced and have not had any other problems with them since. I also have 3 zoomed Powersun bulbs on 3 of my 6 cages and I have never had any problmes with them. So if you are going to use them, get either the big apple or zoomed (the big apple look better as far as the light they but off and they produce the most UVB out of all the mercury vapor bulbs). Hope this helps!
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John
1.1 Ambilobe Panthers
1.1 Nosy Be Panthers
1.1 Sambava Panthers

i just ordered one from big apple and a 10 inch dome thing.

should i use 2 since my cage it pretty big? 4x2x2
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2 month old veilded chamleon (heinekin)
2 juvie crested geckos (not named)
3 month old ambanja panther (not named yet)

n/p
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John
1.1 Ambilobe Panthers
1.1 Nosy Be Panthers
1.1 Sambava Panthers

I like the mercury vapor bulbs I have a powersun I have had for six months and it works fine. I also have a t-rex active and I have heard lots of bad things about it burning out since I got it so I hope I did not get ripped off. My chameleon seems to like it but I only have it since March. I only use my bulbs around 5 hours a day and then I have a timer that turns them off and turns on a reptisun 5.0 I only do this to try to get a bit more longevity out of my bulbs but it seems to be working fine.
I also have regular basking light turn on then also for heat.
Just remember to follow the directions on them most need to be placed at a minimum of 11 or 12 inches from the animal so you can't let them get too close to the bulb. I raise mine up at least a foot from the top of the cage and t-rex makes a spot light that has to be at least 18 inches from the animal.
I have not tried the capture the sun bulb but I will try it next.