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I purchased a Exo Terra basking light bulb (50 watt) but I still need a lamp to put it in. Can you put that type of light bulb in something like a regular metal desk lamp (that takes that wattage of bulb of course), or do you need to purchase one of the lamps that they sell at the pet stores? The reason I ask is that 1) it's much cheaper that way and 2) it will be sitting on the shelf next to the tank in my living room, so the better the lamp itself looks the better. I'm going to purchase it on my lunch break tomorrow.

Iv've seen many people use a desk lamp.

I use a clamp lamp that I bought at the pet store for about $20. I've heard you can find the same sort of thing at Walmart or Home Depot (or whatever home improvement type store you have in your area) for a bit cheaper than that.

The problem with using a regular lamp as a basking lamp, is that it has plastic components that will melt with all the heat that the bulb is producing, I know this from experience, I had one melt on me, not a pretty sight , if and when you do get a lamp, make sure that it has a ceramic base so that it does not melt on you, you will probably spent the money on a new lamp when it melt that you will pay for a ceramic base one that one time.

A regular lamp is fine for a UV bulb since the UV bulb (fluorescent coil) does not produce enough heat to melt any plastic on the lamp, I use a ceramic base basking clamp lamp for the basking light, and a regular lamp for my UV full spectrum fluorescent coil bulb.

At Petsmart they have "Flukers Clamp lamp".

1 is rated to 75 watts $9.99 USD
1 is rated at 100 watts $14.99 USD

All metal and has a ceramic base.

Good Luck

That's what I use..never had a problem with it

Jen
Do you use a full tube flourescent bulb or the coil variety? Any preference?

You can get a brooder lamp with a ceramic base, clamp, and dome that's rated for about 250 watts at Lowes for about $9.50. Hardware stores sometimes have them as well. I recently got a brooder lamp at a Tractor Supply Company for $7.99. They're as good as (or better) than the ones you can buy at pet stores.

Tampa, I use the TRex UV Heat bulb..it's a uva/uvb combo

Hi Tissi,

Just be sure that the lamp is close enough, but not too close, to the tank to sufficiently heat the basking area. Since you mentioned that you wanted to sit it on a desk beside the tank, I wanted to make that comment. Also, I've read that over distance, the UVA and UVB rays actually diminish so you want to make sure that the light is again, close enough but not too close to the tank. Anyone else in here hear of that?

I read it shortly after I got my greenies but didn't pay a lot of attention to it because I was having RES information overload at the time. Reading this on the basking light and Jen mentioning that she uses the combo bulb made me think of that. I'll see what I can find on the subject and post it for everyone if there is any merit to what I read. Someone please direct me to the sticky if there is one on this topic?

I was wondering the same thing Judo. I have a hood on my tank so I can't really attach it to the top of it, so I have no choice but to have it go thru the glass. It seems to be working as far as heating the area. My turtle wouldn't go onto his basking dock until I put the lamp there, and now he's up there all the time! But I was wondering if it affected the UV rays. Does anyone know???

Glass and plastic are definite filters for UV rays. Jen may know for sure, but I believe that the glass/plastic/acrylic is a barrier for the UVB rays (which a crucial for a healthy greeny) but allows the UVA to pass on through.
Maybe you can leave the lid of your hood open for 10-12 hours a day for the UV light to filter in through. Just be sure that the water level isn't so high that the little fella can climb out!

yep..all of those things block uvb rays. He'll still get the heat but that's all.

Even a screen with holes that are really small (less than 1/8 of an inch) will filter out quite a bit of rays. Conventional UVB lights shouldn't be place more than 12 inches from your turtle, and 6-8 inches is best. For the mercury vapor bulb, you should follow the instructions that come with it. They give off a lot of heat and you don't want to cook your turtle. They do give off more UVB rays than conventional lights, though, so the greater distance isn't a problem for UVB metabolism.

If I'm not mistaken, UVA light is the light that's visable to us all.