Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if anyone has used these lights before. They are called Hampton Bay 3-Light Black 20 Watt Halogen Round Plug-in Undercabinet Light Kit. You can buy them from Home Depot. I am wondering if they would work to heat a bearded dragon cage,cause I am thinking about making some new cages and would like to make them 12in high and with these lights they look like they would not take up much room. Thanks Steve
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Thanks Steve
Owner of:
2.2 Bearded Dragons
0.1 Argentine B&W Tegu
1.0 Veiled Chameleon
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
home.wi.rr.com/stevesreptiles

Somehting like that your probably going to have to test and see what kind of heat it puts out... Just keep the package and if it does not work take it back and get somehting different and start all over again... Thats the fun part...lol
-MG
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www.mgreptiles.com
CBB Herps and Heating Supplies

Ok heres a lil info for you on the halogen 20 watt UC lights .

In a 12" cage with the light mounted to it it will throw a lighted area of about 18" or so maybe lil less or more .

I use the 120v halogens ( no transformers needed ) they will put up a hot spot under the light of between 88-92 degrees depending on the ambient temps in the room . The lights also offer ambient temps in the cage i forgot to copy paste your message so i cant recall the cage size you wanted to make but i think you were going to use three lights ? i would guess depending on cage materials that you " should" be able to keep a ambient temp of pretty close to 100 degrees with these lights ( 3 of them) also depends on amount of venting you have.

I use and offer these on my cages and they do work well ( 1/4" PVC cages) hope this helps
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Thanks for the reply. The size of the tank I was thinking about making is 4`l x 2`w x 1`h. It is going to be for a bearded dragon.
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Thanks Steve
Owner of:
2.2 Bearded Dragons
0.1 Argentine B&W Tegu
1.0 Veiled Chameleon
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
home.wi.rr.com/stevesreptiles

>>I was wondering if anyone has used these lights before. They are called Hampton Bay 3-Light Black 20 Watt Halogen Round Plug-in Undercabinet Light Kit. You can buy them from Home Depot. I am wondering if they would work to heat a bearded dragon cage,cause I am thinking about making some new cages and would like to make them 12in high and with these lights they look like they would not take up much room. Thanks Steve

Haven't used them, so I can't comment. The one thing I'd suggest is that you watch the surface temps. Most halogen lights, even small ones, get very hot! I'd measure the surface temps and think about whether an animal coming into contact with the light might get burned...

I've used halos in the past for some Ackie monitors. Look at the bulb surface, is it dimpeled or dimpled with a bullseye of clear glass. The fully dimpeled ones refract light well, these are called flood lights. The ones with a bullseye of clear, get dangeurously hot. The light is concentrated through the clear portion of the lens, these are called spotlights. At the very least i would go to the store where you saw these and place my hand about 10"-12" from the source and see if the heat allows you to keep your hand there or not. A temp gun would be a plus. What sort of herp are you planning to use these with? Clint

I'd use alot of caution with halos. For my Ackies i was using two 45 watts, in a 4'x2'x2'. At 10" away from the light i was getting surface temps of 125-135 degrees. Good luck, Clint

These are going to be for my bearded dragons so i need the temp to get to 105-110 in the basking spot. The cage size would be 4`l x 2`w x 1`h. Right now I am using a 35w halogen bulb in my cages and they work great and those cages are 6`l x 2`w x 18"h.The only reason I want to use these other bulbs is cause I think they look alot better then having a porclein fixture on the ceiling. Thanks for the replys Steve
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Thanks Steve
Owner of:
2.2 Bearded Dragons
0.1 Argentine B&W Tegu
1.0 Veiled Chameleon
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
home.wi.rr.com/stevesreptiles

The setup your thinking about might work, I would look closly at the bulbs they come with. You might also want to look at the different replacement bulbs available. The ones with the spot in the center get very hot, i put my hand under one and after a few seconds i had to remove it. Good luck, Clint

Those lights are gonna be hot! I use 10 Watt halogen lights (single) in my leopard gecko enclosures, at 8" the temp (measured with my temp gun) hits 90-95* ...at 1-2" away the temp is close to 115-120*. I would make sure the animals can not get too close, these lights will burn!
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www.hullabalooherps.com

I bought a melamine cage setup that came with halogen lights installed. At first I thought that they looked cool, much more apealing than a ceramic fixture. However, I very quickly began to hate them. They were unreliable, bulbs expensive to replace, and, worst of all, there was no way to regulate heat. The cage temps were much too high, and consistent throughout the cage. There was really no opportunity for thermoregulation. If I ket one cage empty, with that light on, and put snakes in the other three caes with the light off, it was still unsuitable. I didn't keep those things in for long. Hated them!!
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GratefulFred