3 high wattage bulbs and still not warm enough.

[Abbipetty]

Hey, so I’m relatively new, just got my beardie about a month ago as a bit of an unexpected rescue. I’ve been obsessively trying to make sure everything is as it needs to be, and it was. temps were perfect and she was basking nicely. until her vet appointment last week, she was diagnosed with a pretty high pinworm count and my vet recommended medication. I had to remove everything from her enclosure including her substrate, her basking log, her hammock, her plants, anything that was porous. Ever since, her temps have been just not good. I had a 150 watt and a 75 watt before, and recently added another 100 watt bulb to try and get the heat back up but it’s barely going past 90. I don’t know what to do, I’m wondering if I’m just measuring temps wrong but I don’t think I am, but I also don’t want her to overheat if that is the case. I’ll see if I can add photos. Any help at all is appreciated, even if it’s something unrelated to this. (Edit, I just went to go hold her, and she was pretty warm to the touch, she wasn’t showing any signs of being too hot, her mouth was closed, was bright in color, just felt very warm. So confused because both of my temps are still reading about 91 on basking and 74 on cool end.)

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Enclosures

 

[xp29]

How are you taking the temps?
Anything except a digital probe thermometer isn't going to give you the true temp. The hand held temp guns can be widely inaccurate on some materials. And besides that, your not trying to get the temp of whatever material she is setting on, you need the temp of the light and to get that you need the digital probe thermometers

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

What type of thermometer are you using to measure the temperatures?
If you can definitely post some pictures of your setup & show us where you are taking the temperatures
at.
That is a lot of wattage for the basking, so something must be off for it not to be getting to optimum
temperatures.

Tracie

 

[Abbipetty]

How are you taking the temps?
Anything except a digital probe thermometer isn't going to give you the true temp. The hand held temp guns can be widely inaccurate on some materials. And besides that, your not trying to get the temp of whatever material she is setting on, you need the temp of the light and to get that you need the digital probe thermometers

Hey- I am using 2 digital probe thermometers, and I also do use a temp gun just to check on occasion, but yes, I have two digital probe thermometers on both ends of the enclosure.

 

[Abbipetty]

Hello,

What type of thermometer are you using to measure the temperatures?
If you can definitely post some pictures of your setup & show us where you are taking the temperatures
at.
That is a lot of wattage for the basking, so something must be off for it not to be getting to optimum
temperatures.

Tracie

Hey! Yes I will attach photos. I’d also like to preface by saying that I was closely monitoring her to make sure I wasn’t over heating her, i could feel the heat with my hands but my thermometers were not reading it. She seemed to also be feeling the heat as she would stay towards the basking spot and sprawl out on it. I only experimented with all three bulbs on for a few hours, keeping her closely monitored the whole time. Forgive the very underwhelming enclosure, I had to take out everything for her treatment.

 

[xp29]

Hey! Yes I will attach photos. I’d also like to preface by saying that I was closely monitoring her to make sure I wasn’t over heating her, i could feel the heat with my hands but my thermometers were not reading it. She seemed to also be feeling the heat as she would stay towards the basking spot and sprawl out on it. I only experimented with all three bulbs on for a few hours, keeping her closely monitored the whole time. Forgive the very underwhelming enclosure, I had to take out everything for her treatment.

The only thing I can think of is, hiw long after you turn the lights on are you looking at the thermometers? They need about 10 minutes or so to stabilize. Other than that im not sure.
@Claudiusx or @CooperDragon might have some advice they are both pretty well versed on how lighting works.

 

[Claudiusx]

Do both of your probes agree with eachother when placed in the same spot? Do they agree with your IR gun?

Wattage doesn't mean what it used to anymore, at least not in our case. With the pushes to become more energy efficient, putting off heat is the opposite of what most bulb manufactures want. However, bulbs specifically for reptile basking shouldn't have this issue.

Do you still have the boxes your bulbs came in? That might solve the mystery if we could see what bulbs they are. Also, for some bulbs, a proper dome fixture is a MUST as it redirects a lot of the heat back downwards towards the basking area.

-Brandon

 

[Abbipetty]

The only thing I can think of is, hiw long after you turn the lights on are you looking at the thermometers? They need about 10 minutes or so to stabilize. Other than that im not sure.
@Claudiusx or @CooperDragon might have some advice they are both pretty well versed on how lighting works.

I check them pretty frequently, but they stay The same even after 10 minutes. I appreciate your response, thank you!!

 

[Abbipetty]

Do both of your probes agree with eachother when placed in the same spot? Do they agree with your IR gun?

Wattage doesn't mean what it used to anymore, at least not in our case. With the pushes to become more energy efficient, putting off heat is the opposite of what most bulb manufactures want. However, bulbs specifically for reptile basking shouldn't have this issue.

Do you still have the boxes your bulbs came in? That might solve the mystery if we could see what bulbs they are. Also, for some bulbs, a proper dome fixture is a MUST as it redirects a lot of the heat back downwards towards the basking area.

-Brandon

Hey, yes they do agree with watch other. The stuff in the enclosure does not retain heat as well as her wooden log and substrate would’ve, that’s for sure, but otherwise I don’t know why it wouldn’t be getting warm enough still with me upping the wattage. I do know the brands of everything minus the 75 watt bulb, as that was included in her old set up from her previous owners. I use the flukers lamp fixture, and a zoo med double dome fixture which also came in her old set up. along with the flukers basking bulbs, in 150 and 100. I’ll attach photos. The photo of the literal bulb is the 75 watt that I’m sure what it is.

 

[JohnLillywhite23]

1. How far away is the basking spot from the lamp? I doubt this would cause an issue, unless it was a couple feet away.

2. Do you have any fans or AC vents that blow by the enclosure? I noticed the same thing happened in one of my beardies enclosure, and the AC vent was pumping AC directly onto the beardie’s enclosure.

3. Do you have your heat lamps plugged directly into the wall, or into a power strip? Some power strips have a built in regulator which will limit the amount of power the lamp will pull. This is a safety feature in a lot of newer power strips, and aren’t advertised very clearly.

If none of these are an issue (distance is fine, no fans or AC, and plugged directly into the wall), I would start with getting a brand new dome. Something internal could be causing a minor short which isn’t allowing the lamp to pull the entire wattage needed. If a new dome doesn’t fix the issue, I would then try a new bulb.

This is very difficult as it is defying every law of physics lol. We’ll get it figured out for you, man. Don’t sweat.

 

[Abbipetty]

1. How far away is the basking spot from the lamp? I doubt this would cause an issue, unless it was a couple feet away.

2. Do you have any fans or AC vents that blow by the enclosure? I noticed the same thing happened in one of my beardies enclosure, and the AC vent was pumping AC directly onto the beardie’s enclosure.

3. Do you have your heat lamps plugged directly into the wall, or into a power strip? Some power strips have a built in regulator which will limit the amount of power the lamp will pull. This is a safety feature in a lot of newer power strips, and aren’t advertised very clearly.

If none of these are an issue (distance is fine, no fans or AC, and plugged directly into the wall), I would start with getting a brand new dome. Something internal could be causing a minor short which isn’t allowing the lamp to pull the entire wattage needed. If a new dome doesn’t fix the issue, I would then try a new bulb.

This is very difficult as it is defying every law of physics lol. We’ll get it figured out for you, man. Don’t sweat.

Lol. Yeah, it’s weird. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that none of the stuff in there retains like, any heat at all. Basking spot is about 12-16 inches or so from the lamp itself, as I have her uvb hung on the inside and I’d don’t want it to be too close, I do have one ac that blows near it, but it never caused an issue before, and it’s always on pretty low. Heat lamps are indeed plugged into a power strip, I think you may be onto something with that one, because that didn’t even occur to me, and that is something that was recently changed. I contacted the vet today, because this morning she wasn’t even interested in basking, and I thought it may be because it was not hot enough. So I contacted my vet and she said I can go ahead and put her old stuff back in, and that way the heat can be back up. I’ve thoroughly cleaned everything with soap, water, and/or Komodo-San cleaner. I just don’t know how to clean her logs. Also, I know it’s not recommended, but I do have a heat rock if you guys think I should put that in CAREFULLY to give her a place to stay warm until I get the heating optimal? Not sure, but it’s an idea.

 

[JohnLillywhite23]

Lol. Yeah, it’s weird. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that none of the stuff in there retains like, any heat at all. Basking spot is about 12-16 inches or so from the lamp itself, as I have her uvb hung on the inside and I’d don’t want it to be too close, I do have one ac that blows near it, but it never caused an issue before, and it’s always on pretty low. Heat lamps are indeed plugged into a power strip, I think you may be onto something with that one, because that didn’t even occur to me, and that is something that was recently changed. I contacted the vet today, because this morning she wasn’t even interested in basking, and I thought it may be because it was not hot enough. So I contacted my vet and she said I can go ahead and put her old stuff back in, and that way the heat can be back up. I’ve thoroughly cleaned everything with soap, water, and/or Komodo-San cleaner. I just don’t know how to clean her logs. Also, I know it’s not recommended, but I do have a heat rock if you guys think I should put that in CAREFULLY to give her a place to stay warm until I get the heating optimal? Not sure, but it’s an idea.

For cleaning the logs, if it's the artificial logs, just an old cleaning toothbrush and some mild soap and hot water. If they are real logs, like from the outside, I give them a bleach bath (1:10), then bake them at 250 for about 5-10 mins.

As for the heat rock, I, personally, would run away from that thing. It isn't worth the possible injury to your animal.

 

[KarrieRee]

Hey, yes they do agree with watch other. The stuff in the enclosure does not retain heat as well as her wooden log and substrate would’ve, that’s for sure, but otherwise I don’t know why it wouldn’t be getting warm enough still with me upping the wattage. I do know the brands of everything minus the 75 watt bulb, as that was included in her old set up from her previous owners. I use the flukers lamp fixture, and a zoo med double dome fixture which also came in her old set up. along with the flukers basking bulbs, in 150 and 100. I’ll attach photos. The photo of the literal bulb is the 75 watt that I’m sure what it is.

Flukers are good but they lose heat intensity over time ---- the coil is NO good -- they cause all kinds of health issues it needs to be replaced w/ a long tube fixture -- I can post websites for what is recommended on this board

 

[Abbipetty]

Flukers are good but they lose heat intensity over time ---- the coil is NO good -- they cause all kinds of health issues it needs to be replaced w/ a long tube fixture -- I can post websites for what is recommended on this board

Are you talking about coil uvb? If so, I do have the reptisun t5 high output uvb tube and the matching fixture. In the double dome zoo med fixture I have 2 heat bulbs.