My 100 watt basking bulb burned out today .I was asking if I can use household bulbs instead and how much watts would the household bulb have to be to give the same amount of heat the reptile bulb does. I am getting a reptile specific bulb today but I’m asking because those specific bulbs get quite pricey but household bulbs are not
I don't think that a household light bulb would be strong enough, they have 100w heat bulbs as cheap as $10 at PetCo, I'd just do that to be safe and spare the trouble.
Some people on here use HH bulbs -- I have tried using a 100 watt reg bulb NOT a LED and they do not keep my tank warm enough - it depends on how warm the room is and what the tank is made of like glass wood etc............. you can try a reg HH bulb in the tank w/ what you have in the house being its a 75 watt or 100 watt - just make sure you are taking temps w/ a infrared heat gun or a digital probe to get an accurate temp of his basking spot
Karrie
A lot of us here do in fact only use regular household bulbs for basking bulbs.
I use a 40w bulb and it keeps my tanks where I need it.
All you need from a basking bulb is that it provides the temps you need, and puts off a normal colored light (not red or blue etc.)
So obviously LEDs and CFLs wont work as they dont put off much heat. But standard halogens and incandescents do.