Ugh! Another bulb has blown!

I have been lurking here for a little while. Great place!

Anyway, my problem is that whenever I spend a little extra $$ on a "reptile" light it blows within 2 or 3 days. I have the light hooked up to the same thermostat as the UTH, so it is going on and off all the time. That's the only way I can keep the warm side around 90 degrees. Don't worry, it's a night time light so it doesn't bother my BP.

Here's the clincher...I bought a few of those purple lights after Halloween last year and those seem to last several months. I think I paid like 50 cents for those, compared to around $5 for the reptile light. I can't wait until Halloween gets here so I can stock up on some more of those lights! These are not the lights that make things glow, they are just purple in color.

Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone know why the bulbs would be blowing so quickly? Is it because they keep being turned on and off? If that's the case, then why aren't the cheaper bulbs blowing?

I would argue that there are some brands of "reptile" lights that are of lesser quality than regular, hardware store bought bulbs, and by the time the pet store marks them up, cost 10 times as much.

But yes, if a bulb is being constantly turned on and off, it will shorten the life of it. I'm not sure why the other bulbs are lasting so long. I would just run the bulb 24/7 and keep the UTH on the thermostat by itself. Remember those heat sources are not equal and ideally shouldn't have been on the same thermostat to begin with.

try a ceramic heating element, those last a lot longer then bulbs.

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Originally Posted by Kagez28

try a ceramic heating element, those last a lot longer then bulbs.

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Ditto that, and, CHE's can be very accurately controlled by a thermostat without any affect on its life. I have a CHE that is over 6 years old and still going strong.

since i use only tubs for my snakes i never have used a CHE. i do use a heat bulb for rodent defrosting and re-warming, and i have had the same bulb for months.

but from what brad says 6 years is a good deal for a CHE. they may cost a little less but as you can see they last alot longer.

I was under the impression that it shouldn't matter what is plugged into the thermostat since it just clicks off when the probe reaches the temperature in which it is set.

I didn't think a thermostat could tell the difference between a light and a UTH, only the difference in the temperature of the probe. BTW, I'm using the BAH-1000.

Maybe I'm thinking about this all wrong, but I thought as long as you were using the 2 things plugged into the thermo for the same enclosure it should be fine, since you are only trying to control the temp.

My concern is that leaving the light on 24/7 might cause the temps to go too high. I might have to check into getting a CHE and another thermo.

You know I've found those bulbs to get really hot. Hotter than say a day bulb. At least that's how it was with me when I used to use lights.

But I treated bulbs the same way you treat automotive headlights. Simply because they both get really hot. Don't touch the bulb with your bare hands. Get it out of the box with say a paper towel.
Same deal if you need to screw it or unscrew the bulb. The oils from your hands shorten the bulbs life also. As was said earlier about the constant turning off and on.

My 2 pennies.

I use to use CHE when I had my snakes in glass and I used a 150W n never had any problems... Make sure that whatever your CHE is screwed into is made for CHE... If your using just a regular lamp thats only made for 100W max thats why your blowing your bulbs... Your bulb is requiring more energy than its getting and its pretty much frying it. They get hotter than a normal bulb and could easily burn through your skin and your snakes so make sure its outside the enclosure... If you want pics of my old set up I can send you those.

Does your house stay cold? Those UTH's can heat like crazy. Have you thought about getting a bigger one?

I dont think i would ever switch back to CHE's and bulbs after flexwatt. Those things suck up to much humidity and makes the room so hot...Woke up with stuffy noise bc the heat....better using it during the winter days where its cool. prob use it to warm the room a little. :cool: ....good luck

I have a UTH and humidifier on a thermostat with an infared light on a dimmer for ambient temp. I check it twice a day and make small adjustments to the dimmer when theirs a big change in room temps. So far i've I'm on my second bulb, the first one i think was cheap.

Thanks for all the wonderful suggestion!

I think the problem with my UTH is that I put it on the side of the enclosure, which is what a snake person told me I could do if I was going to keep it on my daughter's wooden dresser. After everything I've read I have to say that I'm very afraid to use the UTH when it's on wood. I know it comes with those little feet, but that's still too close to wood for my liking.

I'm thinking about either getting a new UTH or some flexwatt to put under the enclosure. I'll have to think on this a little longer before I make my purchase.

Def need to get an UTH for the bottom... they need the belly heat to assist with digestion... When you buy the UTH it comes with little rubber "legs" to put at the corner of your tank to keep it off of whatever surface its on... You can use whatever you want really just to get it off... Either way it should be on a thermostat to keep it around 95 which isnt hot enough to start a fire... but you def need to raise the tank off the wood.

I have the thermostat and thermometer probes on the surface of the aspen under the hide where the snakes belly lays. That temp stays around 90 on the warm side. I have another thermometer on the cool side with that probe under the cool side hide, which stays around 80.

I use 75W night time (purple) bulbs in the winter time to raise the ambient temp in various tanks (in the cooler months). I bought a couple of the Halloween bulbs and they look IDENTICAL to the expensive reptile bulbs. They put out the same amount of heat (temp gun). I forgot to buy a bunch on the day after Halloween, they would have been 50 cents.

Covering most of the top helps keep in most of the humidity. Putting the water bowl partially over the UTH will add humidity to the tank without misting. I can keep my Brazilian Rainbow Boa's tank humidity between 70% & 80% without misting. Just replace the water every 3 days.

why do you have a humidifier on a thermostat?

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Originally Posted by Kagez28

why do you have a humidifier on a thermostat?

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Ah its was one of my better ideas that actually works really well. My bp is in a 30gl tall tank that i had a hard time keep the humidity up unless i was misting 3 times a day, it never stayed steady. I use a UTH under one side on a Ranco thermostat and a dimmer controlled 150watt infared on a mostly covered screen top. I bought one of those replacement ultrasonic fog machines that you would put in a nice bowl or something to make surface of the water foggy. Stuck that in a peanut butter jar with a slit cut across the middle and set it on top of the tank with the slit hanging over a 5inch square hole in the top. Now when the Ranco clicks on the fogger fills the jar until it reaches the slit then the fog spills out down into the tank keeping my humidity up without any misting. If i leave it running any longer than a couple minutes at a time it fills the tank with fog until you cant see inside but plugged into the thermostat it seems to click on and off a good amount to keep it just were it should be.