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Does this make for a good basking bulb? Suggested wattage?

My personal opinion is they are not that good. I bought a 50 and 75w when the pet store was clearing them out and they put out very little heat when compared to other bulbs like the zoo med ones or even normal incandescents. The 75w one does not put out nearly as much heat as a 50w ZooMed one. I still have them but they are only used if one of my other bulbs burns out on the cool side of the enclosure. The 75w one is good for maintaining 85 degree ambient temp on the cool side.

>>Does this make for a good basking bulb? Suggested wattage?

Don't waste your money on a bulb marked for reptile use. You are paying twice as much money because they put "reptiles" on the packaging.

You can find incandescent flood, spot, and general use bulbs made by Zenith, GE, etc. You can also find spot and flood halogen bulbs made by the same manufacturers. With all of these bulbs you can find different wattages to make things work.

I've found the halogen's produce more heat than the incandescents at the same wattage. If you want to have the ability to adjust your temps with one wattage bulb you can buy an inline dimmer for the price of two "reptile" bulbs and it probably won't burn out like the bulbs will. So by the time you have bought 3 "reptile basking bulbs" you could have bought at least 2 regular manufactured bulbs and a dimmer.

Just my .02 cents. And keep in mind if people keep getting ripped off by the people who sell these "reptile" bulbs and continue to buy them the price will never ever go down.
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Rob Talkington

I agree with Rob a nice halogen flood will last you for quite a long time compared to an incandescent bulb. They are made much stronger, and put out the same light and more heat then a bulb marketed for reptiles. Now for a UVB producing bulb you have no other choice then to buy reptile bulbs from zoomed like Repti-sun 5.0 etc., But for just heat and light get regular bright bulbs from the Home Depot or Lowes, and save your money. And if you decide to spend a bit more money than incandescent, but about as much as you'd spend on a reptile marketed bulb, and buy halogen you won't be replacing them any time soon. An inline dimmer is a great Idea. I use them on my baby racks, and you can control the heat the bulb gives off, and get perfect basking temps all year with the same wattage bulb.
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If I normally use 100 watt zoo-med bulbs, what wattage would you suggest in hardware store bulbs?
Kris

>>If I normally use 100 watt zoo-med bulbs, what wattage would you suggest in hardware store bulbs?
>>Kris
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Rob Talkington