light bulbs?

[Solid Snake]

is it ok to use ordinary light bulb as heat? mine just blew out and dont wanna spend 12$ on one.

[eyespy]

Sure. The only difference between ordinary household incandescents and the ones they sell as reptile specialty bulbs are some colored coatings. Just don't get the frosted or soft-white ones if you are using it for a basking species that needs UVA light.

[C.m.pyrrhus]

What are you needing the heat for? Depending on what you have, a heat pad or UTH may be better and be more cost efficient in the long run. Otherwise, simple household incandescents work fine in a pinch for some herps.

[Solid Snake]

lol nevermind, went lookin around the house and found a while 60w, and it doesn't give off much heat...

[lordkovacs]

better take a trip to the store then man... i believe it's your nile that you're trying to heat right? if so, i don't believe a normal bulb is gonna cut it (but i'm not to up-to-date on my varanid info.!)
cheers,
MIKE

[Jeff_Favelle]

LOL! You better NOT be trying to heat a monitor with a 60W bulb? That even hurts me to think about.

[Invictus]

I use a 60 watt bulb over a couple of my enclosures, and it gets to 92 under the bulb, and about 80 ambiently. I don't know what kind of light bulbs you're using, but I suppose if you're heating a monitor lizard, you'd want to go with a 100 watt. (I've measured the temp 1 foot underneath a 100 watt at 105F.)

[Lisa]

Originally posted by eyespy
Sure. The only difference between ordinary household incandescents and the ones they sell as reptile specialty bulbs are some colored coatings. Just don't get the frosted or soft-white ones if you are using it for a basking species that needs UVA light.

So my 60 cent for a dozen industrial clear light bulbs give off uva light?

Whats the concensus on black lights? I have a few kicking around and haven't used them cause i was unsure if they were safe to put over the reptiles.

[Dark_Angel_25]

Originally posted by Lisa
So my 60 cent for a dozen industrial clear light bulbs give off uva light?

Whats the concensus on black lights? I have a few kicking around and haven't used them cause i was unsure if they were safe to put over the reptiles.


As far as I know reptile don't actually 'see' black lights, and are ideal to use as a night source... but I could be wrong...

[marisa]

If you mean black lights as in thoe purple bulbs that they sell at the reptile shops, those are safe.

But if you are talking about black lights as in "make me glow at a bar" and "I am a hippy with velvet posters" black lights then no I believe they are not safe for reptiles.

I also use normal bulbs in some places for my herps. No probs here.

Marisa

[Lisa]

I use florecent bulbls on all my corns (13w of heat, anything more and the enclosure is way to hot). The black lights i got were from a dollar store.

[eyespy]

There are 2 different types of fluorescent-tube style black lights. One is used for lighting up posters, and shielded to prevent humans from developing cataracts and wrinkles from UV exposure so that type is basically useless. There is no bulb sold for human usage that is going to give off any sort of UVB as laws in North America, most of Europe and most of Asia disallow UVB-emitting lights because of the potential for human harm.

The other type is the industrial-grade one that gives off UVC as well as UVA and UVB. It causes cell mutations, cancer and corneal damage and is not safe for any living thing. One of its primary uses is a sort of irradiation to kill off bacteria and molds and suchlike nasties.

[Lisa]

the black lights i have are screw in bulbs. don't know if that makes a difference. they're not fluorescent at all. i do have regular human use florescent on the corns but they're diffrent bulbs all together.

[nolagurl]

I've used regular ol' lightbulbs for a while now. They're inexpensive and go up to 150W. With winter coming I'll have to get a higher wattage.

[eyespy]

The screw in type black lights are just household bulbs with a color coating on them that makes it harder for animals to see the light.

[Lisa]

So they're safe to use how ever they won't provide any of the uv light that we want for basking species?

[eyespy]

Sure, they are probably safer than the reptile specific bulbs. Bulbs made for humans have to pass safety standards that ones made for the pet trade don't have to follow. Unless I need a UV bulb I always use bulbs made for humans.

[LISA127]

I also use regular household light bulbs for heat. And if I have a ddiurnal animal that needs UVA and UVB, I put a flourescent UVB bulb over the cage. But I still use regular lightbulbs for the heat. It's much cheaper. It's ridiculous, in my opinion, to spend $10 on an incandescent light for heat.