ceramic heat emitter

I have a new 4'x2'x2' custom melamine enclosure. I am wanting to get a CHE for it to so I am prepared for any instance where I would want higher night time temps, such as illness. I keep my house furnace at 66° at night, and the enclosure is right at 70° in the mornings before the lights come on. What wattage CHE should I be looking for?

Depends on how cold the room gets --- I use a 100 watt placed in the center of the tank on top of screen - that keeps my temps at around 70 or so --- but that is only used if the temps get below 65 at nite -- for most of this past winter I didnt need the CHE's only in Feb when the temps got below zero -- for the most part they were at 65 -68 at nite - the tanks I have are Zen PVC w/ the bamboo sides w/ stainless steel screen

Well, according to the thermostat for the house heater, it is 66° when we get up. I don't have an actual thermometer for the room though. The enclosure is solid melamine on all sides, glass doors for the front, and vents on both ends.

I was thinking specifically for the times I would want it a little warmer than the usual 70° it gets down to in the enclosure at night. I've seen many times on posts in here where the advice is to keep it a little warmer at night when there is some type of illness going on. I live in a small beach town, and if that is something that needs to be done, I won't be able to run out and buy the CHE that day. It will need to be ordered. I'd rather have it on hand already.

For reference, a 100W basking bulb keeps it at the appropriate daytime temps. So I assume I would want something below that wattage.

My basking bulbs are 150 watt - but during the summer they drop to the 100 watt - my office where my dragons are at is a room that really warms during the day because of the sun that comes in - even w/ the air running- you can get the CHE now test the 100 watt over nite - then see how warm the tank gets to -- I have mine placed in the center of the tank in back --- the CHE's in mine stay close to what the house temp is I have the heat set for 70 and the temps are right around that in the morning- the CHE is recommended if your dragon is ill --- I have only had to run the CHE for a rescue / rehome here a year or so ago -- she was severely malnourished and basically on deaths door when I got her - then I ran the CHE sadly she did not make it --- but for the most part I run them for winter purposes -- its never bad to have that on hand -- along w/ extra basking bulbs as you never know when they are going to go out--- also I always keep extra UVB bulbs on hand but they are always changed out a month prior to expiration time --

Ok that sounds good. Our office is also our animal land. It does get hotter in the summer, but I have some heavy black out curtains that help cool things down when it is super hot. Time and experimentation will tell what bulbs I need to move to at that time.

My though was to get a couple different wattage CHE's and test them out. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't picking up one that was completely out of range for what was needed. I'd rather be prepared before hand than try to figure it out while I'm in a panic because Sir Henry isn't doing well. I already have extra basking lights in a couple different wattages, and plan on getting some extra UVB tubes, too.

As always, thanks so much for your help. And I'm sorry your rescue didn't make it.

You would only need to get a fixture that could house a 150 watt and lower- if you had to go as high as 150-- make sure the dome has a ceramic socket- yes she made it for 2 weeks and passed- she broke my

The domes I have are ceramic. They are the ones from our old enclosure. The new one came with ceramic sockets installed. I think I would always have ceramic anyway just for safety sake.

This is our first dragon, but over the years we have had a couple of parakeets, and countless tropical fish. My daughter Tori has autism, and we found that caring for animals was a great way for her to learn responsibility, routine, and compassion for other creatures. From the age of 7, she's now 22, she was the one in charge of caring for the animals, while I supervised. Down the the smallest guppy, the losses were felt very deeply. Tori even has a tattoo in memory of our first parakeet. It is a quill writing Koori's name, and the quill is a sketch of one of her actual flight feathers. Isn't it amazing how these creatures that are so small can wrap around your heart so fast?

Absolutely- it is hard to loose a pet no matter how long you have them

You could always get a dimmer or even a thermostat that way you can get 1 wattage and just adjust it with either the dimmer or set the thermostat to turn on and off and preset temps.

I use a CHE with a simple on/off thermostat (bought the Exo Terra 100W on sale for like 30 bucks). I have the Tstat set to 65. I have the lamp placed over his hammock where he sleeps 95% of the time with the temp probe taped to the side of the enclosure. I only use a 60 watt CHE as the house generally doesn't drop much under that so it doesn't take a lot to get the temp back above 65.