Burnt plastic smell from bulb

[stinkysmommy]

My beardie's basking bulb fixture clamps on to the side of his tank. When I went to adjust it today, the screw had come lose and the whole, burning hot hood came off into my hands. It's a metal hood with a little ceramic part from Exo Terra, and the bulb is an Exo Terra Solar-Glo heat/UV mercury vapor bulb. I set it off to the side in the tank for just a moment while I gathered the screw and clamp, but hadn't realized that my vapor bulb protrudes from the hood just slightly. The first indication that anything was wrong was when I went to lift the hood and the bulb was slightly stuck to his reptile carpet. The bulb came away but the carpet beneath had been blackened. It didn't smell yet so I fixed my lamp and clamped it back on. When I flicked the light on, after a moment, my room began to smell like burning plastic. When I flicked it back off, the smell stopped. So now I'm in a bit of a sticky situation; it's a cool 55 degrees out and I have the window open to air out the room. Obviously the best thing would be for my bearded to be under his heat lamp, but I'm afraid he'd be sickened by the smell so he's in the bed next to me. I've tried wiping both the bulb and hood with a damp cloth to see if it'd help but to no avail. I'm not sure what to do next; is my bulb ruined now, somehow? I'm not sure I can afford to replace it right away, as I've just spent the last of my meager paycheck at the vet's office.

 

[CooperDragon]

I've had my basking bulbs melt plastic on the side frames of my tank top and it does stink. As far as the bulb goes, do you see any plastic residue left on it? They get so hot that if there is plastic it will continue to give off fumes and may affect the integrity of the bulb which isn't good and not worth the risk in my opinion. He should be OK without UVB for a little while so if you can replace it with a halogen flood light (par38 or br40) then it should provide sufficient heat. Even a high wattage household incandescent should do the trick for now. You'll still need to either get a UVB tube or a new MVB though. On a budget, I'd probably go with a 100w MegaRay or 100w Powersun self ballasted MVB.