Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering that if I had a 40 gallon breeder with a heat pad covering at least 1/3 of the bottom, what wattage bulb should i use to heat it to a total of about 90 in the hot spot. I need a low wattage bulb but I dont know what wattage should go with what size tank. Does anyone have any ideas? If you can tell me from experience it will help greatly

You don't need the lamp, you should be able to reach that temp with just the heating pad (I assume you are using a hman heat pad with built in temp control).

If you want to use a lamp anyway, it's fine, probably a 50 watt will be best. I have found 75 watts gets too hot, 25 watts barely makes a dent.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

Actually now that you mention it, I was using a UTH for reptiles. It does not come with a temperature control or anything. What are these heat pads that are for humans and where can you get them?

Since you already have the UTH, you are best off just getting a thermostat for it. All reptile UTH's require a thermostat. Human heat pads are available at Target, Walgreens, lots of places- the kind you use for sore muscles, etc. The better models have technology that keeps the heat level even without fluctuations and has 4 heat settings, which acts like a built in rheostat.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

An alternative to a thermostat, is a dimmer. You can buy a rheostat for $20 from Petsmart or about half that price if you buy online (before shipping costs). You just plug the UTH into the rheostat and adjust the dial to low/medium/high. Check out reptiledirect.com or petguys.com.
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chickabowwow

3.2 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)
and 3 eggs a' cookin'