I recently attended a reptile show and met a well known bd breeder and saw his set up. He was using common household lightbulbs to provide the lighting and heat for his dragons. When I asked him if he using any of the Zoo-Med bulbs, I was told that "don't waste your money on that stuff, these (the household bulbs) are just as good and does the job". His dragons did looks healthy and had nice colors to them. My questions are 1) Is he right about using common household lightbulbs to provide the lighting and heat? If not, which of the following three types provide the best lighting and heat, Basking Spot Lamp (100w), Nocturnal Red Infared Heat Lamp, or the Repti Halogen Bulbs? I appreciate everyone's opinion and advise, thanks for your time.
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Questions about Zoo-Med bulbs & household bulbs.
crazyloco
Oct 03, 2003 10:49 PM
Replies (3)
Joel R
Oct 03, 2003 11:05 PM
If you are using a fluorescent UVB bulb for the UVB needs, then yes you can use a normal household bulb. I use Duramax SPOT bulbs from HomeDepot.
If you are using Mercury Vapor bulbs as the UVB source then you shouldn't need another basking spot so then you wouldn't need the household bulb unless it's a large tank & you need more heat.
So,, meet the UVB needs then use any kind of bulb you want for the "light intensity" and or heat.
Hope that helps.
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Joel R
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CheriS
Oct 04, 2003 10:18 AM
give off a great light intensity and we have really seen a difference it makes in the dragons.
I use natural sun as much as possible for the babies, but on rainy days and later afternoon they come inside and under these.
dragonsbynature
Oct 03, 2003 11:06 PM
Well, the first thing is to make an important distinguish for anyone reading this post and question. Let's be certain that we are talking about heat bulbs only, and not UVB lighting.
For heating alone, yes he's absolutely right. Normal house hold 60w, 75w, and 100w bulbs work just fine for heat.. there is no reason at all to spend more money on the special reptile "HEAT" bulbs. We use regular GE bulbs for heat only.
Having said that make sure you don't confuse this with UVB lighting. That is a whole other topic i'll not get into here.. but to answer your "heat" question... yes you'll be fine with regular light bulbs as long as they provide the correct heat gradietns.
brandon
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Dragons by Nature
