So my Gecko will have her day light on for at least 30 hours straight… I use a red heat bulb at night time so I can keep her warm and be able to see her when the lights go off. Just like with my tanks I usually have back up of back ups with my reptiles things. I haven’t been to a decent reptile store in many months though and I only had one extra night time bulb and of course tonight the one I was using went out. Went to take the extra one fresh out of the package and it was a dud.
I figure running day lights for 30 hours until I can get a replacement bulb is better then letter her get cold. I can’t figure out another easy way to keep her warm for another 4 hours until her day light bulb is supposed to come on.
Point is those of you with reptiles if you haven’t yet learned always keep back up bulbs on hand for when they go out when the stores are closed and always check you’re back up bulbs to make sure you didn’t buy a dud.
how cold do urs get? my beardy always has his light on and its to hot for him. my gecos are usually fine w it too but there cage isnt covered. im sure it will be fine. i pro should take better care of them but it just so happened that when my bro moved out i suddenly inherided all the lizzards eccept 4 one.
Depending on the lizard heat pads can be a major health risk. To my understanding, and it’s been a long time since I randomly searched the web to get this information, dragons can not sense heat coming from underneith of them. In the wild this makes sense because heat comes from the sun. If they walk onto sand or a rock that is too hot it cools down quickly as they block sunlight from reaching it.
I used to use a really small one for my gecko rated at about a quarter the size of the aquarium, but I changed tanks too many times trying to get a cool look for the tank while maintaining a self and healthy environment. I got tired of buying a new heat pad every time I wanted to switch it’s tank around.
MEANWHILE… my bearded dragon is getting black beard on me. I think he is getting upset that I’m spending time talking about that other lizard whenI haven’t fed him yet today. I better get going.
I’m not too sure how accurate the “Not being able to sense heat from below” statement is. I’ll have to do more research, it’s been a loooong time since I kept reptiles. Generally in the wild most reptiles will find a sunny rock to sun themselves in, yes it’s to get heat from the sun, but more importantly it’s to heat their bellies as it helps them to better digest and absorb their food.
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:5, topic:674”]
I’m not too sure how accurate the “Not being able to sense heat from below” statement is. I’ll have to do more research, it’s been a loooong time since I kept reptiles. Generally in the wild most reptiles will find a sunny rock to sun themselves in, yes it’s to get heat from the sun, but more importantly it’s to heat their bellies as it helps them to better digest and absorb their food.[/quote]
+1 Stick a heat pad under one side of the tank. The heat coming up will be radiant. Don’t get a “heat rock” as they tend to have hot spots in them that can be dangerous. The key is to allow for a thermal gradient, the lizard will decide what’s best.
Ah, perhaps I was thinking of heat rocks. As I said it’s been a long time since I’ve really read up on this stuff.
Though if I used a reptile carpet vs sand isn’t there a slight risk of hot spots as well? There is no sand to disperse the heat. This was another reason why I believe stopped using the pads.
Luckily I was able to pick up a red heat bulb at work today.(we keep them with the turtle supplies) Just nice to know this kind of stuff.
[quote=“Gordonious, post:7, topic:674”]
Though if I used a reptile carpet vs sand isn’t there a slight risk of hot spots as well? There is no sand to disperse the heat. This was another reason why I believe stopped using the pads. [/quote]
It’s possible that you could still have hotspots, but if you purchase a pad for reptiles you should be in good shape. Years ago, it was common to just use a heating pad (like for someone with a bad back), that was before many of these products came in to mass production. These days, most of the ZooMed stuff is pretty good, but I’m still leary of the heat rocks.
I kept a few pythons waaay back, and always had a lightbulb inside a tin can for the heat source. Definately wouldn’t recommend that now!
[quote=“Gordonious, post:7, topic:674”]
Though if I used a reptile carpet vs sand isn’t there a slight risk of hot spots as well? There is no sand to disperse the heat. This was another reason why I believe stopped using the pads. [/quote]
It’s possible that you could still have hotspots, but if you purchase a pad for reptiles you should be in good shape. Years ago, it was common to just use a heating pad (like for someone with a bad back), that was before many of these products came in to mass production. These days, most of the ZooMed stuff is pretty good, but I’m still leary of the heat rocks.
I kept a few pythons waaay back, and always had a lightbulb inside a tin can for the heat source. Definately wouldn’t recommend that now![/quote]
Yeah years ago I had a 6 ft. iguana habitat made from plywood. I used a reptile heating pad underneath. never got hotspots in the enclosure because the wood provided gradiant heating. of course the landlord was less then please to see I forgot to put something UNDER the heating pad and scorched a huge square out of the carpet.
Fortunately I was out of the house and it became the ex-wife’s headache lOl
Ah, cracked tanks work awsome for reptile habitats. Should have seen the look on my Dad’s face the first time I came home from school for the summer with 10 tanks. “Ok, now why in the world do you have a cracked tank!” Reduce Reuse Recycle
Can’t tell you how many little butter tubs, PB jars, and soda bottles I have currently in the basment. Every once and a while Steph will go through and ask if we can just recycling some of them instead of cleaning them again. Works out.
I bought a new bulb and it worked for two days. I am wondering if my lamp could possibly be causing the problem. This isn’t a complicated like fixture with a ballast and all that crap though it is an incandescent. This sucks, my gecko will be having another 30 hours of light.
Of course I didn’t pick up an extra because I didn’t want the store to be sold out and I was going to wait to get the second until next week when more bulbs came in.
that sucks but o well. always rember to unplug ur ficture first! i learned the hard way. it burst into flames and all the sudden i was no longer Saint:). i was terrified.
[quote=“Gordonious, post:12, topic:674”]
THE STUPID LIGHT WENT OUT AGAIN!
I bought a new bulb and it worked for two days. I am wondering if my lamp could possibly be causing the problem. This isn’t a complicated like fixture with a ballast and all that crap though it is an incandescent. This sucks, my gecko will be having another 30 hours of light.
Of course I didn’t pick up an extra because I didn’t want the store to be sold out and I was going to wait to get the second until next week when more bulbs came in. [/quote]
Why not go with a ceramic heat element, and let the light from the room light the cage? If you still want to see the critter after lights out, you could put a red LED on the cage. The ceramic elements are really the way to go for heat, IMO.
Good idea and I’ve used them in the past. Designed an experiment a long time ago to see how heat would effect the growth of fresh water guppy fry and used a ceramic bulb so to warm the little bottles I used as holding containers. I actually went looking for the bulb to see if I still had it the other night when the red bulb went out, but I must have miss placed it during one of my 10 moves the last five years.
I always want to see the little critter and it is in a room where I don’t mind the red light. My gf didn’t like it when she had to babysit the little guy a couple years ago and it had to be kept in her bedroom. Said it was scary to wake up at night to a red room.
Currently the Gecko is in a room by itself as well, I’m not sure where we will keep it, but I’ll keep in mind the ceramic just incase the light bugs us. Thanks for sharing the idea though.