Mercury vapor bulbs?

[Nafun]

Has anyone had any experience with these?

I got one for my turtles, and it lasted ~12 hours. I hung it vertically as per the instructions. I was largely unimpressed. It raised the surface of the basking spot only 3 degrees, and raised the ambient room temperature *2* degrees.

[marvelfreak]

Never used one but from everything i ever heard about them they suck.

[dragunov.762]

i have never used these but i thought that they were supposed to get really hot. i could be thinking of something else though.

[never25]

i have used them and i think they are great. what brand did you get?
the one i have is a power sun by zoo med. its great. again i dont know what you had but these have a one year warranty.
hope that helps

[Coffee Black]

could be the fixture. i also thought they weren't supposed to be dimmed but i could be wrong.

[infernalis]

could be the fixture. i also thought they weren't supposed to be dimmed but i could be wrong.


No you cannot use a dimmer with them, it will malfunction and possibly cause a fire.

[Nafun]

I didn't use a dimmer. Used a zoomed in the recommended zoomed deep dome fixture. Looking into the warranty, until then I'm using two fixtures.

[Paradise]

I had a mercury vapour lamp as well as a basking lamp for my bearded dragons. The MV lamp was really only used for UV and to keep a steady ambient temperature. It is actually (in my experience) a very good long life lamp but it does not work well with moisture. If there is a lot of moisture in your enclosure the lamp will die rather quickly.

[marvelfreak]

I had a mercury vapour lamp as well as a basking lamp for my bearded dragons. The MV lamp was really only used for UV and to keep a steady ambient temperature. It is actually (in my experience) a very good long life lamp but it does not work well with moisture. If there is a lot of moisture in your enclosure the lamp will die rather quickly.
Sound like that would be your problem. To much moisture. I would use ceramic heat emitter. Not cheap, but last a lot longer than any heat bulb. Plus moisture won't be an issue with these.

[citysnakes]

all i use for my RES are MV bulbs. when i switched from heat/UV bulbs i found it easier to keep up higher temps and my RES just brightened up with colour ive never seen before because of the high UV output.