Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys.

I have a new balptica dubia colony and am currently heating it via a heat lamp. With previous colonies I always used heat tape and thermostats but I do not want to go back in that direction. Even though I have had good, reliable heat tape such as flexwatt, I do not trust heat tapes as much as I used to.

So, right now my current colony is in a large Rubbermaid tub with a the typical small section cut out of the top and screen melted on in a sturdy fashion. The heat lamp sits on the screen and provides a good 85-95 degree hot end and a 80 or so cool end. The dubias are eating well and doing their thing but since they are nocturnal, I was considering going with a red bulb.

Basically, I need to use a heat lamp rather than heat tape and want to provide the dubias with the darkness that they should have. Any opinions or experiences to share on this? It would be great to hear how anyone else who is using a lamp has their setup.

I don't use any incandescent heat lamps for my roach colonies, but use human heating pads.

You can try a low wattage ceramic heat emitter(CHE) that's controlled by a dimmer switch rated at 1.5 times higher in wattage than the CHE.

There should be some info on the net about wiring up that sort of system.