Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i need help with heating my cage the tempeture doesnt reach over 90 and i have to heat lamps for the cage
any advice for heating the cage
thanx
zach

What size tank is it?

I have a 90gallon tank,. and its kinda tough to heat because its so big. I have two dome lamps with 150watt bulbs and a large heat pad.

Add another head lamp, or get a higher watt bulb. If this doesn't work, cover up some of the screen cover with a towel to keep the heat in.
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i have a 20 gallon and i have two heat lights one with 150 watt
and another with a 100 watt and i heating pad underneath
reply soon thanx
Zach

Hi Zach,

If you have 250 watts of light bulbs just over the top of a 20 gallon tank and your high temp. (directly under the lights) is 90 degrees I would say that you are not measuring the temp. correctly. But even if you are, you can heat a 20 gallon enclosure with a single 50 watt reptile type spot light or you can get rid of your screen top/put a cover on the tank and heat it with 1 or 2 50-60 watt plain jane .69 light bulbs from the super market (and you can get rid of the heat pad if you want). You can elevate/lower the basking site to obtain a desired hot spot and the cover on the cage holds the heat in to increase the ambient temps. Of course your climate and the details of your home and the room you are keeping the animal in and your particular set up all come into play. It's not how many watts but how you use them...

Good luck,

Ian

my 150watt used to sit on the screen untill it burnt the screen so i hung it over the screen and the 100 watt is on the screen
Ian what do u mean by a cover like what material is it.
thanx
Zach

One really cheap way is to cover the screen top with aluminum foil - just 1 or 2 round holes cut out for lights. You can also get a piece of acrylic cut that sits on top of your screen top. You can have holes cut just slightly larger than the diameter of your lamp(s) - which will allow for a little ventilation. Depending on the thickness of the acrylic it may warp a little which can also allow for ventilation. I have done both and they work well. The problem with screen/no tops is that all the heat and humidity exit the cage in rapid fashion. So it takes more energy in all respects to give the animal what it needs. If you put a cover on your tank you will keep the heat and humidity in the cage where it belongs. Then you can easily heat that 20 gallon tank with 50-100 watts of incandescent light bulbs if you desire.

Hope this helps,

Ian

Well truly, the ambient temperature of your cage doesnt need to exceed about 90 degrees, what's important is to have basking spots with temps between 100-110 degrees. If you entire cage is 100 degrees and your dragon is overheating, it's got nowhere else to go. In my cages (55 gallon) i have the ambient temperature at 80-85 degrees, and two basking spots, each at around 100-107 degrees.

Have you measured the temp near your dragons basking spot? If it's in the 100-110 range, then your in good shape.

Quebert & Isis
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www.funnymanreptiles.com

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Edited on January 29, 2005 at 09:44:55 by phwyvern.