Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my BP loves them he is so much more active when i have one on, but mine burned out after only 4 days, is this normal? BTW red lights do not work, at least for my snake, he would not come out of his hide for anything after i tried one of those. now he is sulking in his hide. and yes i'm anthropomorphizing and i don't care. just wondering if anyone else had any experience with those bulbs good or bad.
thanks
mike

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Tosha
JET Pythons

Send it back to the manufacturer in the box. Or take it back to the store. They should last longer than that.

Maybe try a different style of red? I know there's a red light that produces a lot of light (looks like a red version of the basking/spot lights) and a red light that produces lots of heat but little light (looks like a regular lightbulb, just red). If your light puts out a lot of red light, maybe try the different kind of red?

Also, what wattage is it? If it's a high watt and you don't have it in the right kind of fixture, that can make it burn out or pop. Anything over 60 watts (for your snakes it should be 75 with that style of light) should have a ceramic base on it and preferably a nice wide dome (narrow ones don't let the heat escape as well).
Too high a watt in a plastic or metal base fixture can fry the bulb, and too high a watt (or too big a bulb) in a narrow/small dome will cook the bulb and make it pop. Getting a hot bulb wet (misting!) will also make it pop.

Hope that helps!

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

ok i have a 10 gallon and a 20 long, what wattage/ fixture size do you recommend for each? ceramic bases of course.
thanks

For the 20L, the 75 watt moonlight should work (100 if you can find it), check temperatures of course to see where they sit. Your house may be warmer or cooler than mine. For the low-light red bulb, try the 100 watts and see how that does. It may be too warm if you use more heating in your house than we do.
What works as well is just get 100 watts of everything, and then put lamp dimmers on it so you can tweak it as needed.

I haven't tried to use red light heating on a 10 gallon in a long time, so I'm not sure what you'll want to use with that one. Maybe start with a 60 watt (or I think it's 50 watts with the moonlight) and see if that does the trick.

When I tried to heat up a 10 gallon for a baby ball python, I personally couldn't get it to be cool enough on the cool side - It'd be in the high 80's on one side, and mid 80's on the other. After a week of trying to fix it I got mad and got a different tank, lol.
With the ten gallon, if it's for a baby ball (not sure if you're still trying to do the two babies in one tank), you maaay have better luck relying on a heat pad for heat, and just use a really low watt nightlight for viewing.

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

my 20 long is my BP tank and i have the temp grad pretty well set there. My 10 is for my pueblan milk snake. i have a lot of questions/concerns about him but i'll post in the appropriate forum.
thanks
Mike

Okay, then if what you're doing is working for the 20L then whaddaya need me for?

Good luck with the milksnake. Pueblans aren't too bad, the ones I've seen tend to grow up into fairly calm, nice snakes. Some baby milks are nuts, though!

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire