Heating Lamp

I just got a new snake and a new tank for it. I had a 150 watt black bulb in there for heating along with a regular white bulb to look like day during the day.. this was in a 20 gallon tank.. the temperature was prefect like this but when I switched to a white 150 watt bulb the temp went way up.. does the white bulb give off a lot more heat than the white bulb? Or might it of been the aluminum foil that I put on top to hold in the heat the night before?

Yes, 150 watt bulb will give off a LOT of heat. Hook it up to a dimmer switch.

Also those lights will draw out a lot of the humidity from your tank. You will have a fight on your hands to keep your humidity up. Might want to look at an UTH with a thermostat. Those are easier to control.

i know the 150 watt is hot but what i was saying was the black 150 watt for night time made the temperature perfect.. then i put i white one in for day and the temp went up like 20 degrees more than where the black one was at

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Originally Posted by jwk811

i know the 150 watt is hot but what i was saying was the black 150 watt for night time made the temperature perfect.. then i put i white one in for day and the temp went up like 20 degrees more than where the black one was at

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For a 20 gallon I use 40 watt night, 50 watt day. I think that a 150 watt bulb with no dimmer could bring the temp to 200+ degrees. I use 150 Watt bulbs in my 120 GALLON !!!

im still using a therometer and making sure the temp is ok.. and it was fine for the black bulb

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jwk811

I just got a new snake and a new tank for it. I had a 150 watt black bulb in there for heating along with a regular white bulb to look like day during the day.. this was in a 20 gallon tank.. the temperature was prefect like this but when I switched to a white 150 watt bulb the temp went way up.. does the white bulb give off a lot more heat than the white bulb? Or might it of been the aluminum foil that I put on top to hold in the heat the night before?

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that seems a bit excessive.. i use a 60 in my 20g and I think that is too much.. that could turn the tank into an oven, you would essentially be facilitating a greenhouse effect!

If you want the "white light" to be an additional heating source, use a smaller bulb... If you want the "white light" to provide light to view your terarium, ditch it and get a small flourescent strip light. They are very efficient, produce little heat and since snakes don't require UVB/UVA (with rare exception) the bulbs are super cheap to replace... you can put it on a timer and leave the heat source on 24/7 and you are set.

Good Luck!