Heating and Lighting Questions....

[nca1979]

Greetings.....new bp owner here. I've been reading a ton of threads and have been learning a lot from everyone, this site is fantastic.

I've basically got the temp/humidity/lighting rules down I think (let me know if I'm wrong)....seems like the general rules are temps need to be around 90-93 on warm side/in the hide, 80 to 83 on cool side, and the humidity ranging from 55% to 65%. If you have day light coming in through windows etc, then "artificial" lighting really isn't a concern.

Here is my question though.....if heat lamps are a no no because of the effect they have on humidity (which is what I'm going through), then what is the best way to get the two temp areas in the terrarium? Right now I have a reptile heating pad under the cage, and the temps seem to be reasonably good, but the only way I can get the warm side up to where it should be (90-93), is I need a heat lamp on, which of course also gives off light, so I turn off at night, which then in turn keeps the entire cage in the low 80s. I'm assuming I need something else to keep the warm side of the cage where it needs to be?

What are the best bulbs that can emit heat, don't ruin the humidity, and lastly will not be shining 24 hours a day? (which would of course be bad)

So far, he seems reasonably comfortable, has fed well, etc, etc. I guess I'm just trying to avoid any health problems down the road.

Thanks for any info that you all can provide!

[JoshJP7]

The heat pad is what needs to be 90-93... the cool side should just be the ambient temps of 80-83. If you need something to keep the cool side temps up around 80 use a Ceramic Heat Emitter(CHE). These work well with keepin up the cool sides but not killin the humidity that much. Its what I used and I managed to get humidity above 50%... also think about closing off 3/4 of the top of the tank with some plexi glass if your using a glass tank. Either way the heat bulb and the heat pad need to be on separate thermostats.

[Figure8]

I use a heat lamp for one of my enclosures and it's fine as long as you mist the cage regularly. I'm using a black lightbulb so i can keep it on 24/7 without a problem. There is also ceramic heat emitters which gives off no light whatsoever but you need to use it with a ceramic light fixture so if you don't already have one, I'd suggest a black light. Humidity will be a problem with any light you choose, but misting works fine for me.