Infrared Lamp

Can I use 150W Infrared Lamp as a heat source on the cool side?

what are the dimensions of your enclosure?

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Originally Posted by cmack91

what are the dimensions of your enclosure?

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Its only a 15 gallon tank.

NO, that will literally bake the snake! what is it in inches? im not familiar with that size

Are you going to control its out put somehow? if so yes you can unregulated in a ten that is a lot of heat.

What are your ambient room temps?

My room temps are about 75 and for a 10 gallon I use a 25 watt "I think" and it heats the ambient temps up to 80.

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Originally Posted by pigfat

My room temps are about 75 and for a 10 gallon I use a 25 watt "I think" and it heats the ambient temps up to 80.

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With a dimmer you could cut it down to about 25% power and you would be ok.
Without a dimmer, you'd have baked snake on your menu :(

I have a 15 gallon tank as well and a 50W infrared light but it has a narrow enough beam and I can move it to control how much of the tank it shines on and heats up. Maybe you could try raising it up so its not as strong a heat and only shining it on a small part of the tank? But it might just be too hot a light bulb...

Go with what the others have said here... unregulated heat lamps in that size of enclosure would be the death of your snake.

Personallly, I have a 30 gallon aquarium setup, and the ambient in my house & specifically my room goes down to 68 at night and remains between 70-75 in the day. Therefore, I'm required to opt for secondary heating to keep the ambient up. I have 2 rheostats, a precise zoomed one controlling my heat pad for the hotspot which keeps it around 88-90 degrees F. The other is a 6'' diameter, 150 watt(the bulb I use is 75 watts) infrared heat lamp controlled by a lamp dimmer positioned on the screen above the cool end, which keeps about half the tank's ambient at the right temps. The hotspot covers the rest.

The downside to using this is dry, arid conditions, though, so if you must, either place a larger water dish directly below the lamp or mist frequently. Normally, I do the former. During shed, I mist regularly.

That's waaaaay too much power. Either use a regulator as others have said, or a lower wattage bulb. A 40 or 50 watt is more than enough for that size tank. I use a 100w in my 40 gallon breeder on the hot side, and it keeps the temp at a steady 90. A 150 would be too much even for my tank. If the lower wattage bulb doesn't give you the heat you need, try a different fixture. For that tank, zoomed's mini dome with a 50w would work really well I think.