Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone tried using those halide lights all the kids are raving about for varanids, or any herps for that matter? New means for enclosure multitasking in the off period... while it is held that monitors don't need UV, it might prove positve in some manner. Just a thought....

Not me, As you know, I got the sun and halogens and incandesents, all have the same results, So I imagine that those bulbs are somewhere between the sun and the incandesents, so if the results are the same. I will wait until someone passes our results from all three.

Call me sometime Sir, found this today

Think they do....yer female prisca got to the medicinal tequila again then went out and got that tribal tattoo she's been hankerin for, paid for by selling those "artifacts" to the tourists again. Oops....said too much..
But, seriously, WAY COOL!! Up by the willerdi? Or were those twin spots that afternoon? How big is the petroglyph? Any idea how old or which casino they come from?

Heeeyyy.....man,

I have a buddy who used a 150w metal halide and a 250 hps in his pet shop over turtle displays. I had the same question that you posed, so I got into the enclosures and hit it with the temp gun over various spots, and while those HID lights certainly warmed the joint up (pun intended), they didn't create a focused beam that allowed for efficient basking. They didn't create a hot spot in the 100F (or more) region, they just warmed the cage up into the low 90s, which was not that good.

The MH especially produced a very pleasing display light however, the HPS just looked like the turtles were basking under a street light. Luckily, he had several Buffalo Police Officers as customers, who were aware of the purpose of those lights, so he never got his door busted down in the middle of the night...LOL.

Will

I use the chick brooding light plug into a dimmer because those get really hot. It's not even on at full strength, but the bulb is big enough for a small lizard like bearded and Uromastyx to bask comfortably... You have to be careful because these thing can get really hot very fast...enough to melt the plastic. that's why I use a dimmer. The Uromastyx love it though. hehe! They love really hot temp and a dry cage. I see my Uro basking all the time at full strength. Of course the cage that he is in is rather large and I suspend it up high enough so it doesn't get too hot, and he can never reach it, but he love it at full strength.