Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had my tank set up for two days...its a 40 gal breeder. Well I have my lights set up and I am using a 150 wat reptile bulb and its only getting like 80 deg. in the basking spot, the temps all around the tank are fine except there. What type of bulb should I use to make it hot enough? Could I get a light from like a hard ware store, would that be good enough as long as it was hot enough?? If so what wattage would be best to use?? Any insight would be very helpful.. I don't have a lizard in there yet, but I want to have it right before I get it and would end up hurting it!!!

D

if all the temps are fien around the cage then maybe you should try using a piece of slate rock under the bulb, the rock will get pretty hot from that. I have a big vision cage that i use a 150 watt in, the background temps are fien and the baskign area with a slate rock gets to 120 . If you are already using a rock under the bulb, then i would just try to get the rock closer to the bulb.
Good luck!

-----
Lauren
Rico-Saharan Uromastyx
New Jersey

i would suggest trying a 150 watt zoo med repti basking spot lamp bulb, these bulbs i found to give the best heat in a tight beam to the basking location, like frution said put a piece of smooth slate under the lamp and it should absorb the light and heat up the spot nicely, i used to have a glass tank, but i found it to hard to heat, so i got a custom wooden cage for my uro, and i can heat the entire cage esp the basking spot with only a 100 watt bulb and i can get it up to 130 to 140, so i hope this helps , if you need more adivce or opinion feel free to ask.

I use two lamps, a 175W phillips hallogen heat($8 canadian at the local farm supply) and a 160W zoomed powersun uv bulb. Gives me a basking temp of about 125. My Mali loves it.

HTH
-----
Adam - 0.0 African Sidenecked, 0.1 Redfoot, 0.1 Sulcatta, 1.0 Western Hognose, 1.0 Crested Gecko, 0.1 Mali Uromastyx