Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got an infra-red heat light for free from a guy who sold me a critter cage. I wonder(disregarding the critter cage,) if infra-red lights will dehydrate an iguana or if they're necessary. I'm worried about it not sleeping because of the light too.

The thing is, it's getting a little chilly some nights. But I keep the iguana in a warm place, for now, and think it might be okay until it gets really cool. Then again, I'm worried about the infra-red reducing humidity.

Ceramic bulbs are known to warm the animal and not the immediate surrounding, or something like that.

Red light, just plain red light, is less penetrating than green, blue, or violet (the most penetrating), hence why it is more soothing to the eyes, and hence why it is used in photo labs.

Now, Zoomed, if you look at their lighting products, does have red and infra-red lights, either suitable for night usage. They do say 24 hours, but anyone knows never to run electrical equip. 24/7.

Make sure the infra-red u have is suitable to use on your animal. At night there should not be UV lights or white lights, or whatever, because animals do need day/night times.

http://www.zoomed.com/html/lighting_home.php

As for dehydration, as long as you have fresh water available always, and the enclosure is humid, the animal will be fine.
The ambient temperature is a bit cooler at night than day, of course, and the animals know that.

If you can invest in a timer system, it would really be helpful for you.

If you have further questions, feel free to ask!

-IJ

p.s. black-lights, or pop-up-art lights, are still debated, and may not be suitable because they emit penetrating wave lenghts of light, hence why they are capable of iluminating bright colors in the dark. Plus, they don't last too long either.

Infrared lights are good for daytime heating. Any heat source you have during the day is going to dry out the air a bit and make humidity a challenge, so you can't really get around that.

At night, though, I like Xander to be in complete darkness. There are companies that make red and blue night lights as nighttime heat sources for reptiles, but, unless the reptile is nocturnal (igs are diurnal), I think that even that amount of light is invasive. I wouldn't like sleeping under a colored light.

If you're going to buy another bulb for nighttime heat, which you'll probably have to do, skip right to the CHE (ceramic heat emitter). They are more expensive, but they last quite awhile and put out a good deal of heat. You can only put them in fixtures with ceramic sockets, though, or else they will melt the lamp and cause a fire hazard.

Both my reptiles have CHE's and I love them. Xander (my iguana) has a heat lamp during the day and a CHE for nighttime. They are on timers (7-7) so that I don't have to mess with them too much. It's a small investment, and worth it in the long run.
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~Alika~
1.0.0 green iguanas
0.1.0 cockatiels
1.0.0 senegal parrots
0.1.0 blue-fronted amazons
0.0.1 red belly piranha