Heat lamp vs. Heat pad?

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Mvalenz

Mvalenz

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Not sure which to use. Are heat lamps ok to leave on all night and day? My house temp is set at 69 degrees. Heat lamp or heat pad?

 
I have both. In my opinion, in terms of effectiveness the heat lamp is superior in every way. A single heat lamp with a 150W ceramic heat emitter sufficiently warms up an entire area and with a timer, one can automate the process. The only thing the pad does is slightly raise the ambient temps of my terrarium (+5 degrees) near the glass pane, which was insufficient for mantids that need more than room temps So the majority of the heat to the terrarium is delivered by an infrared heat bulb in the terrarium's cover.

 
as lunerstorm said, there is no contest. get a heat lamp!

 
Great. I bought a 50 watt infrared spot lamp. I was going to buy a larger watt, but i think the 50 is doing fine.

Thanks. I love this website.

 
yeah nothing too high wattage...i have a 26 watt daylight bulb right now for my terrarium. puts out some decent heat

 
I actually use two heat lamps and two seedling heat mat. I like both for different reasons. I keep the heat mats on all the time, and it seems to help keep the plastic enclosures more humid than the ones under the heat lamp which dry out more quickly. So, I use them for different species. I also have a desk lamp too. All of the lamps are on timers. The seedling heat mats seem to work better with plastic enclosures instead of glass.

 
I use regular light bulbs. I think they are 37 or some random number. As Tammy menctioned lights do tend to suck the humidity out of the air. I will have to look at seedling mats. Seems like a better soultion for incubating.

 
lunarstorm said:
A single heat lamp with a 150W ceramic heat emitter sufficiently warms up an entire area.........
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How large an area would that be?

gripen said:
what does everyone think of heat emitters vs. bulbs?
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Its not an issue yet, but I tend to wonder how much longer incandescents will be available. Isn't the gov't trying to phase them out? Having said that, Home Depot has 25 Watt red light bulbs for $3.00.

 
im not worried about price (i have been using bulbs for years) i just want to know more of there strengths and weaknesses.

 
gripen said:
what does everyone think of heat emitters vs. bulbs?
Click to expand...
I like to use bulbs like daylight heat lamps. I can't keep my mantids near the windows, because it gets really cold and drafty, so I like to provide that light period during the day and turn them off at night. I don't have mine on a timer, but I keep thinking that would be cool.

 
I kept my infrared light on all night. It kept my mantis nice and warm. It still looked like she went to sleep at night. When I got home I let her out for a little while. She likes that.

 
Lights for sure. Anyone want cheap heat tape or heat rocks, send me a PM. You can have my unwanted leftovers. :)

I've used some ceramic bulbs and holders as lights-out heaters, and as a good way to attract flies AWAY from the top (my mantids all chase the light, not the heat, so if the ceramics are near, or touching the sides, the flies gather there).

I like the seed pads / heat pads, for ooths and cocoons (moths), as a constant source of heat to the enclosure. But those tanks still have lights on timers for day/night cycles. I've always put them on the bottom, but can see opportunities to put them on the back-side, instead.

 

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