What I use.........

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Posted by cwatbay on December 27, 2002 at 08:22:00:

In Reply to: Bulbs posted by IGUANAFRIEND on December 26, 2002 at 13:45:15:

My ig cages (3) are seven feet tall and four feet wide, 2.5ft deep, with glass windows and insulated walls, cus it gets cold here in the winter. In fact all cages, monitor, ig and tegu are insulated and double walled, all with both fixed and sliding windows.

In order to heat these effectively and keep my electric bill down, which runs between $ 120 and $ 200 per month, I have had to do a lot of research and experimentation when it comes to lighting and heating.

All set-ups use a 160 watt Power Sun flood mounted between twelve and fourteen inches of where the lizard can get to it, usually a basking spot.

However, I am having a 50% failure rate on the Powersuns with the elements burning out in around six months. Zoomed has been good about replacing the bulbs, but there is still the cost of packing and shipping them back to Zoomed, which fortunately is in California.

For additional heat and light, I am using 75 watt to 95 watt halogen flood lamps made for outdoor lighting, and, can be bought cheaply at Home Depot or other large hardware stores.
These put out heat and light and do so cheaply without a lot of energy consumption - which is better than running the 250 watt ceramics during the day ( I will admit however, that I do run the ceramics 24/7 in the winter ).

I have found, with the exception of UV Heat type bulbs and UV flourescent bulbs, that any other reptile bulbs are a waste of money and are grossly overpriced. Either the same or better effects can be had with inexpensive over the counter bulbs from any hardware or Wal-Mart type store.

I do not use (with the exception of the monitor, who has a nice big house in his cage to sleep) any type of colored heat or other bulb to use at night. Igs, tegus and monitors all see light, no matter what color. It is also hypothesized that they see some colors into the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum. With that in mind, all their cages are dark and night and there are no house night lights in their cage rooms. The exception to this is the monitor who has a infrared heat lamp in his enclosure, but he sleeps in his house where it is totally dark.

Hope this helps. Good luck. CW

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