lighting???

[Veralyyy]

hey!
so I had my beardie for almost a year or so, and I been reading that you can use flood/spot light bulbs for heating instead of the ones in the pet store. I first used a 150watts (zoo meds reptiles basking light) and it made the tank perfect temp. but that one blew out. I went to buy another but they only had the 100 watts (zoo meds reptile basking light) in stocked so I bought it and since its getting cold from where im at the 100watts isn't doing the job. i read online that a flood 65 watts does the job so I went to Walmart and bought a pack (its LED?) of 65 watts flood bulb and it doesn't seem to work for me. it actually made the temp. worse ??? its now at 75?? (btw im using a tempt gun to measure the temps) what brand and watts should I buy that would make this better??

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Enclosures

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

The LED lights don't seem to get quite as hot. You could try using the regular basking light as
you were & using a ceramic heat emitter with a temperature controller to try & get the basking
temperatures up.
Are you placing a digital probe directly underneath of the basking light for at least 20 minutes
to be sure it's accurate? Since you are using a temp gun, are you measuring directly on the
area where he/she basks?

Tracie

 

[CooperDragon]

Yeah the LEDs produce light but don't generate the heat you need. What you're looking for is a PAR38 halogen flood light. The halogen bulbs will crank out lots of heat for you. You may need to try a few different wattages to get it just right but 60-70w is a good place to start. My 90w produces basking temps from about 25'' away.