new light bulb popping! help..

[12many]

So two days ago, i was on my bed and i heard my roach bin's heat lamp popping. I went to take a look at it and i see smoke inside the bulb. I figured that it just died since when i try to switch it on, it doesn't work. So i knew it was time for me to replace the bulb.

Today, i went to my local reptile shop and i bought two zilla 150 W night black heat for my zilla dome light fixtures with a built in dimmer switch. I put the bulb in and set the dimmer to medium. A couple secs pass by and i hear the new bulb pop and a small piece of bulb broke. I figured, hmm.... maybe it couldn't handle medium power. Next, i removed it and put the second one in. Switched it on, full power and couple seconds.. POP! The whole bulb exploded got startled, and unplugged it. While i was unplugging it, i stepped on one of the broken glass and a huge glass was on my toe! When the first one popped, it smoked for a little bit. When the second one popped, it smoked a lot to a point where it almost lit on fire!

Why is this happening? Before putting in the second bulb, i checked the part where the bulb goes into and it was clean. By the way, the dome light prongs didn't have a ground connection.

The light fixture is able to handle 150W and before i switched out the old bulb, i made sure that what i bought was the exact same bulb, which it is. I also unplugged it and switched the fixture off before putting in the new bulb.

Any good safe ideas? I need a heat lamp because my bin does not get hot enough w/o it. I'm already using a heat mat under the bin too. The fixture is not placed inside the bin, its outside right above the air vent.

Also, is there a difference between... heat emitting wise

this kind of CHE
http://www.amazon.com/Terra-Reptile-Terrarium-Ceramic-Emitter/dp/B001UU7S36/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1313376452&sr=8-7

compared to this kind of CHE?
http://www.amazon.com/Zilla-Ceramic-Heat-Emitter/dp/B001F9AOEM/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1313376452&sr=8-8

 

[iLOVEmySPIKE]

u really shoudl stick with a heatmat.. i wouldnt use heatmat and a heatlamp for roaches. I would think tht would cook the roaches and they hate light! i would try and just stick with a heatmat and if it isnt getting hot enough buy a thermostat.

 

[MrWhite]

for the CHEs, if they are the same wattage then they are basically the same. I didn't see a wattage rating on the Zilla CHE though. My personal experience with Zilla products are that they are made inexpensively.

 

[iLOVEmySPIKE]

for the CHEs, if they are the same wattage then they are basically the same. I didn't see a wattage rating on the Zilla CHE though. My personal experience with Zilla products are that they are made inexpensively.

yes true tht zilla isnt very good when it comes to lighting and heating from my ecperience

 

[12many]

for the CHEs, if they are the same wattage then they are basically the same. I didn't see a wattage rating on the Zilla CHE though. My personal experience with Zilla products are that they are made inexpensively.

sorry i didn't mean to use those products specifically. I meant how the bulb is shaped. I meant to say, do those bulbs emit heat differently or pretty much the same? does the rounded bulb emit heat in all directions like the bulb with a flat end? I was informed that the flat end emits heat in all directions. Whereas my round bulb emits heat only in the direction it faces. is this true?

 

[MrWhite]

for the CHEs, if they are the same wattage then they are basically the same. I didn't see a wattage rating on the Zilla CHE though. My personal experience with Zilla products are that they are made inexpensively.

sorry i didn't mean to use those products specifically. I meant how the bulb is shaped. I meant to say, do those bulbs emit heat differently or pretty much the same? does the rounded bulb emit heat in all directions like the bulb with a flat end? I was informed that the flat end emits heat in all directions. Whereas my round bulb emits heat only in the direction it faces. is this true?

for both CHEs they are really the same, the heat element is at the flat part in both cases.