Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've used a cermaic bulb in my water dragon's cage for about a year now. (Probably less, actually) It's a pearlco brand bulb, inside LLLreptile's cermic lamp.

It is connected to a zip-strip which is also shared with the UV lights, and then connects to the wall.

The total wattage is under the zip strip's limit, and the bulb is far below the lamp's wattage.

This morning, I plugged it into the wall...and sizzle!

I wasn't sure what had happened at first...but my water dragon had turned an awful dark brown, and I could smell burning wires.

I opened the two doors to the terrarium and it hit me....BAD FUMES!

I immediately grabbed the dragon and put him in the bathroom...
Next when evacuated the parrots....

And finally I went back into the room to air it out. ( Fans, open windows, etc )

Looking closer, the lamp used to have a sticker on the ceramic socket...it is now all black! ( and the lamp reeks of burnt wiring. )

What could have happened? ( Humidity? )

I'm reluctant to use ceramic bulbs now...and I think the fault was probably on the lamp, not the bulb. Anyone have similar experiences?

Sorry about the typos.

Maybe it happened because you were using "cermanic" bulbs instead of ceramic ones?
If you had a direct short in the wiring, your circuit breaker should have popped.Or fuse blown out.
I'm thinking that maybe the bulb overheated due to age? Humidity within it? Also, when using copper wiring in high humidity situations, it is not unusual for corrosion to build up on the wiring or terminal ends, which impedes the flow of electricity which in turn creates extra heat.
Were the lamps wires hot? Did the insulation melt? Plastic socket lamp, or ceramic socket?
The 18 gauge wiring used in lamps is not meant to handle increased power flow for long long periods of time.
Back to impedance again.
And while I've never used ceramic heaters, perhaps the humidity rising from your terrarium could have damaged to emitter itself, or, you had something blocking its output, causing it to overheat?
Did you have a thermostat on it?

You said *pearlco*.....

im not sure but i beleive they are now extinct and i think it was something to do with the methods of construction and that having happened before .As burma said impedence could have played a roll in it . also if its a plastic lamp socket base it will become brittle with heat and time there fore causing it to fall apart and *FRY* thats why all lamp bases imho should be ceramic. humidity "could have a roll in it also" but doubtfullwhat i would recoomend for future use is going the extra mile and purchase you a GFIC dropcord this will have a shunt trip device built into the cord they are not cheap but they will save your herps , home & life at the slightest variance in power they trip out maening there will be power to the outlet you plug it into but the gfic cord will shut off power making impossible to aid a malfunctioning device to falter and burn out and cause a fire
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No, I didn't use a plastic lamp....it was a ceramic socketed lamp, with the cermic pearlco heater.

That day, humidity was low...I hadn't sprayed during the night, and all the heat/light had been off for about 12 hours.

Nothing even had a chance to heat up...as soon as it was plugged in, we heard an elecric "sizzle".

The part of the bulb that screws into the socket, on the very tip, is singed black. There is also a little bit of black coming up from the lamp's ceramic socket. Like I had mentioned before, the sticker on the lamp is burned.

After this...I'm not sure I want ceramic bulbs! I can stick with my herps that need under tank heating, and the occasional ( and often burned out ) conventional tungsen bulb.

I haven't ever used ceramic heater's, I couldn't justify forking over that much money, so I just use infrared bulbs. Apparently reptiles can't see the red part of the spectrum, so they don't even realize that it's on. Lasts a good long time, cheap to replace, and there is no heavy duty wiring to fry your socket up...if it blows it blows and thats it. You just gotta let it cool down some before you take it out or you put a cool towel on it and *SHATTER!* yeah. my 2 cents.
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