My heat lamp burned out!

[werecat]

Hello folks,

So my heat lamp burned out and I don't have a backup in the wings. Now I have to run out to purchase one asap. Previously I've been using a reptile spot which was given to me by the previous owner. This has worked for the past year, but I'd like to get away from a spot lamp. I know most here use a simple household incandescent, but none of the stores around me sell them anymore. Here are my options: two appear to be reptile branded incandescents and one is a halogen. What would you go with?

Looking at the 60W of this:
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/daytime_heat_lamp.php

Looking at the 50W or 75W of this:
http://www.zilla-rules.com/products/day-white-light.htm

Or looking at a par 20 50W halogen long neck flood which I can find at the hardware store and which was once recommended to me by a member.

I'm probably over-thinking this, but I always want to do the best for my little guy.

*Note, I have a dimmer so if a bulb is too hot I can bring it down, but I'm hoping not to do this because I've read the brightest light possible is best for their health and natural behaviors.

 

[nightanole]

Or looking at a par 20 50W halogen long neck flood which I can find at the hardware store and which was once recommended to me by a member.

Thats what i run. Just make sure its not "narrow" and you should be good. I can get by with a 35 watt, my 55 watt i have to keep over a foot a way or it gets over 95f.

 

[junglefries]

A lot of people use the 25w halogen. I like the household 25w incandesent. Can be put right on top of enclosure and brings temp up 5-10°f.

 

[Mike Fisher]

Incandescent bulbs have not been discontinued. A halogen bulb is a form of incandescent light. They make them in spotlight, flood, and also a bulb style that look just like the old style incandescent.

I've found that the halogen spotlights can cause thermal burns more easily when your cham is cold due to the concentrated beam. aka "thermal shock" I burned a couple of my chams pretty bad over the winter that way. Still healing.

In the future, I won't use spotlights on cold chams. My montanes get down into the 40's F at night in the winter, so in the mornings they need to heat up and can't feel how hot the beam is. It is not a gentle heat like the other styles that lets them warm up slower.

 

[werecat]

Yes, I definitely don't want a spot of any sort as I know these can cause damage more easily with the focused beam. I was curious about the bulb style halogens. I've been seeing those a lot. I guess I've just never seen anyone mention using them here on the forums. I assume those would provide a more even, gentle heat than the spots.