As some may have heard, I have no central air or heat for the time being in my home and I am forced to somewhat use the basking lights and UTH as a control for the temperature in my AFT's tank. My question is that is it ok to just leave a black phosphorus bulb in constantly, or do you really need to switch it out during the day. I have heard that black phosphorus bulbs can burn your reptiles, but mine is in her hides during the day so the light is mainly just a source of heat for her. Depending on how cold it is, I switch out between 2 black lights. One is a 60 watt and one a 30 watt. She's nocturnal and I don't think it would hurt to keep the black light in at all times. It's just really difficult sometimes to switch the light out every morning and night b/c I work shifts and sometimes I work 2 closing nights in a row and I don't have to be to work til 3 so I don't get up til around 12. If you see a problem here please let me know. UncleLunchBox
I've used black & red night heatlamps on leopard geckos 24/7. Heat's heat. I don't see how it being on in the daytime would make a difference if the temperatures are still within accepted ranges.
Thank you Axe. I trust your word and appreciate your input. I'll keep using my black lights. UncleLunchBox
If switching them on and off is an issue you could try putting them on timers. Most of our lighting is (except for Amenet (viper-tailed gecko)). The leos we leave on 24/7. Frodo and Su now have a 50W infrared bulb and Huff has a 15W nocturnal black and a 60W ceramic heat bulb. We now have both set-ups within an acceptable temp range. It seems to be working well. Amenet has a 75W nocturnal black, but it is raised above her enclosure a fair bit and is only on at night. The ambient temp in our 'reptile room' is around 80-84 depending on the time of the day (and how long the numerous lights have been on).
