Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have researched a bulb from Big Apple Herps, which is their new brand but looks to be a good bulb, which because of price and the specs decided to purchase one. What I have been working with is most of the new Mercury vapor bulbs are longer than say a regular 150 watt zoomed basking bulb. Since I am somewhat concerned about the health issues involved with some of these new bulbs I prefer to house them in a dome fixture as opposed to attaching them to the top of my cages and having them uncovered. The dome fixtures seem to be about 10” wide but not deep enough to accept these new bulbs without the bulb touching the screen. I prefer to have a screen ¼” mesh to set the bulb on. Anyway you may not have run into this problem, if you do read about the Big Apple Herps one it’s not going to fit, and one of the others that I purchased fits, but still sits on the screen.

So I decided to get domestic in my shop today and I took a regular ceramic top 8.5. Dome lamp, and then cut the top of a 10” brooder dome bottom. Put them together with four 6/32 x 3/8” screws with washers and nuts and extended the depth of my lamp holder to 9 inches or so in depth. This allows me to screw in any mercury vapor bulb and still be ½ to ¾ of an inch from the bottom of the bell and above the screen comfortably. The manufacturer of all the bulbs insists for optimum performance your bulb should not touch the screen. Perhaps you have designed your cages etc. so this hasn’t been an issue, or you may be using fluorescents as I do on some of my other reptiles; but for the sake of conversation, encase some of you do run into the problem I’m thinking this worked well. Most of us have extra domes hanging around (or at least some of us –LOL!) so I thought I would pass along to you all….I believe you can buy the 10” brooder bell housings with out the fixture if your interested in getting into such a project.

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Phrynosoma.com

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signature file edited. [phw 11/14/04]

I had a similar problem with the vision cage I just bought. The shroud that was small enough to fit the recess was not deep enough to keep the bulb from touching the screen. Thinking of all various kinds of solutions I could find at the hardware store for a few dollars plus gas or make in the garage with substantial invested time, I cheated. I made five stacks of ten pennies ($.50 total), taped them together with cellophane tape, and set the shroud on those.

Very cool idea! I had thought about sinking a length of stovepipe into a brooder lamp for that same purpose, but haven't ever tried it. The MVs I have now fit fine in the 10" domes (but not 8".
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Torey
Eugene, Oregon, USA
1.1 Uromastyx Geyri (Joe and Arthur)
2.0.1 Uromastyx Dispar Maliensis (Tank, Turtle, and new neighbor Spike)
1.2 Anolis Carolinensis (Bowser, Leeloo, and Sprocket)
1.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Bruce and Sheila)
1.0 Betta Splendens (Mr. Miagi)
1.1 Felis Domesticus (Roscolux and Jenny)
And several miscellaneous community fish

i would reccomend not to buy the big apple bulbs as ive read quite a few of articles that they are descent bulbs but rarely last past a month or two ...i suggest the t-rex active uvheat spot bulbs

I have used these bulbs since Big Apple started producing them and have found them to be quite good, with a long life of around 10-12 months. I had the worst experiences with T-Rex, with the bulb coming loose from the socket, usually within 2-3 months. I also used the Zoo Med Reptisun bulbs, and they last as long as the Big Apple, but are more costly. The biggest reason for bulb failure is moving the light fixture. When you use these type of bulbs, attach them so they are stationary. If you have a cage that would require you so remove the top where your bulb is sitting, get a stand or make one so you can move the cover without removing the fixture with the bulb. These are just my experiences, hope it helps.

Pam

Hi,

I have various cages, using the bulbs with my monitors as well as uros. The bulbs are only 10-12" away from the highest basking spot. I get a temp read of 120-135 degrees on the basking spot depending on if the door to the reptile room is shut or not. The monitors use extreme basking spots and are fat, healthy, happy and successfully breeding. My uros are a little too young or unsexed to be breeding. I only buy the 160 spots (instead of the floods) as they create a hotter basking area. I also use a retes stack in my monitor cages that works super. I am considering making them for all my uros as well, as these give them the hottest spot on top with multi-levels underneath with a great temperature gradient. All of my cages have little open space so heat (and in the monitors cages, humidity) stays inside the cages. I use 4x2x2 cages and I also have a few 3' ones for the dwarf uros. I returned so many bulbs to Zoo-med for failure that it was almost a joke. When they first came out, I paid $79.95 per bulb!! The last Capture The Suns from Big Apple I got for less than $30. I know eventually it has to be an individual choice, picking what works best for your animals and your cages. I try to listen to the more experienced than myself and make what I hope are the best choices for my animals. Best of luck to you!

Pam

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