Reptile & Amphibian Forums

for all you with alot of monitor cages or reptile cages, that use lighing how do you heat yor cages , like what light bulbs

i dont wana have 2 pay 10 bucks to replace the 150 day glo bulbs everytime it blows out
so is there a cheaper one that i can us
i rember someone saying something like hoglen bulbs what are they and where can i get them

thanks srry for so many questions wana work out most of the bugs befor i get my argus

I use banks of 50 watt halogen bulbs in all my cages. I use one, two and three bulbs, depending on how big the lizard is.
I have a small collection, just 5 monitors. My cages range in size from a 40 gallon breeder to a 12X4.

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

arnt 50 watt halogen bulbs just regular bulbs how do they give the right amount of heat, how far away are the bulbs from the monitors

thanks

I adjust the distance of the lights and the basking spot until I get a surface temp between 130 and 150 degrees. This gives them a hot basking spot while leaving a cooler side so they have a choice of temps to go to.

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

so just by like 3 of them and turn them on above a wood house and make a hot spot
ill try it with a frew reg 150 bulbs befor i by them

thanks

I use 50 watt halogen floods, not the kind with the clear center.
Unless you live in some frozen tundra,(I love the word "tundra"
I see no need for 150.

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

i still dont get how using thme gives u a 13 -150 degree basking spot arnt they just regular bulbs, then y would they make such thing as reptile bulbs i will try them, so like 3 50 bulbs ok

i must really be dumb bc i dont get it
srry

thanks

Just go to the hardware store and look for "halogen flood bulbs", usually made by phillips or sylvania. You'll see they aren't quite regular bulbs, but rather outdoor bulbs, and they give off a significant amount of heat....usually more than that of a comparatively sized reptile bulb. Be careful to get ones that don't have the clear hexagon in the center of the lens though, because these can cause one spot in the center of the basking spot to get dangerously hot.

Ever touch a light bulb? They are hot they don't just throw out light they also heat up in the process.

Now if you get a flood light they are throwing the heat and light typically at 25-60 degree spread. The incandescent or indoor floods work as well as the outdoor halogens. Both of these get a surface temp. of around 400 degrees or higher on the bulb itself. The more distance between an object and the bulb the less heat.

So all you have to do is place the basking surface closer or further from the bulb to achieve the 130-160 surface temps.
The reason people use more then 1 bulb is to increase the surface area or spread of the heat. This is only a concern with larger monitors. It enables their body to be heated from head to base of tail or head to tail in some cases.

Hope this helps you in understanding how this works.

I was beginning to think I needed some crayons. I re-read my replies and didn't see any big words. I thought I made things plain and simple. Why do they work? I dunno, I'm just a dumb hick from Alabama, they work, therefore I use them.
Maybe I should move to the frzen tundra (there's that word again) and get some huge 150 and 250 watt bulbs.

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

I didn't say anything that you didn't already. Just worded a bit differently is all.

Musabin yer bama akcent geten indaway hahaha

Well off to go paint some more critters

All 45 watt GE halogen quartz outdoor flood bulbs. Depends on how big the monitor is depends on how many you need.
This is an albig over 4ft in length, for him I use 3 bulbs to create a STV sized hot spot...

This basking spot is for an albig almost 6.5ft long, therefore I use 5 bulbs, both of the basking spots are 135f if I remember right, with minor adustments I can get 170f with 2 of my cages...

This is one 45 watt bulb in my ackies cage, its 195-200f depends on air temps.

kh

Get a temp gun and lower or raise the basking site and lights until you get a surface temp between 130 and 150 degrees.

Scott
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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.