Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im getting an adult male beardie sometime this week.

I have everything set up perfectly, but ive got one question. Which bulb do you all recommend for the basking spot? I need one that doesnt take up too much wattage (electricity), and is still efficient for heat.

Thanks!

Well the bulb wattage depends on a number of things.

what size enclosure is it?

is it a glass aquarium or made out of wood or plastic?

I have different types of cages for my beardies. I have 4 foot stackable cages that only require 40 wt bulbs and it gets the basking spots to 110. On the other hand In a glass aquarium I need to use 100 wt bulbs. It also depends on how far away the bulb is from the basking site. In my smaller glass tanks I use 60-75wt bulbs.

You can use a variety of bulbs for your dragons

I use philips reveal house hold bulbs. A lot of people use reptile spot lights but there is no real advantage to these and they are expensive and burn out very quickly. You could also go with a mercurey vapor bulb. they tend to produce a ton of heat for their wattage plus they give off benificial uvb. Another good alternitive to the reptile spot lights are dura max spot bulbs that you can get from a hardware store. they tend to give off high heat for low watts. One thing I like about the philips reveal bulbs is you dont get that yellow lighting making the dragons look dull.

anyways hope some of this helps.

peace,
nate

To tell you the truth, the amount of electricity used up by the basking bulb and UVB bulb in a single bearded dragon's tank, isn't all that much. I doubt your electricity bill will increase a dollar. Currently I have three basking bulbs and three UVB bulbs burning all day long and haven't noticed a significant change in my electricity bill. When I have noticed a change, it was during the hot summer months I ran my AC. Now those things eat power like no tomorrow.

The important thing is to make sure the fixture you are putting the bulb in, can handle the wattage. Most petstore hoods are rated for 75 watts. However a regular ceramic light fixture that can be mounted right to the underside of your tank's top are cheap, fairly easy to install (will need to connect wires from a power cord to the leads in the fixture, but this isnt' very difficult. pretty much match color to color (ie black to black, red to red, white to white). There may be other types that are already wired, but i haven't found any, other than outdoor flood light mounts but these are designed to be stuck in the ground more than screwed into a cage. (also had one overhead, the sides of the fixture around where the bulb screws in started to melt even though the bulb itself was lower than the rated wattage, which is why I bought the ceramic fixture). Ceramic fixtures usually are rated for 225 W which you will never need. I have never used a bulb stronger than a 150 w and that was in a 5'x2'x2' cage in winter, when my house temp was cooler.
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PHLdyPayne

Those ceramic light fixtures work great. Thats what I have in my stackable cages. Never had a problem.

Some of the newer light fixtures form pet stores use ceramic tops so they dont melt anymore. I have about 7 of them that I am useing. Actually one is one of the old types with the plastic switch built into the fixture( those usually melt) To avoid melting the switch you just put the light on a timer. Anyways those ceramic fixtures work great and I defintly recomend them.

peace,
nate

you can see in my photo in the other post that is what is being used.