Infared lighting

[silverblade760]

Hey everyone,

This morning i went to a reptile show/convention to buy some stuff for my dragon like a reptisun 10 and cage carpet. I was also going to buy a heating pad to put on the outside of my tank because the temps are starting to drop at night. While i was there i was talking to this breeder about the heating pad. He reccommended buying a infared heat bulb and using that for both my daylight and night time heat. So basically leaving it on for 24 hrs. He said that this is what he does for his dragons and it works fine. He did have some pretty impressive dragons there lol... any suggestions??

 

[Catalyst]

I personally wouldn't go for that. During the day dragons thrive best with lots of bright clear light, like they'd get in their native environment. You can use a regular lightbulb or a halogen flood light for a daytime heating bulb if you'd like. At night, some dragons can be disturbed by the red light and not sleep well - I had this happen with my girl. She started sleeping much better once I took the red bulb out. It's not dangerous to use the red light at night, you just risk having a tired, cranky dragon. Instead of the heating pad, I'd recommend going with a ceramic heat emitter - it's above your dragon's head so there's no chance of being burned, and it puts off no light to disrupt your dragon's sleep.

 

[silverblade760]

yeah i'm using a regular zoo med heat bulb right now... but the ceraminc bulb won't like melt my screen lid or anything right

 

[RedHandFilms]

If your heat lamp doesn't melt the screen, the the CHE won't melt it either. Just make sure it's a metal screen, not nylon.