Tired of buying red-heat bulbs? Me too. Here's my solution.

I am just sick and tired of paying $5-$9 dollars for a stupid light bulb. What a ripoff. Half the time they go out in a week and sometimes they just arent dark enough red.

I dont use my red-heat lamps for nightime viewing, I use them for heat. I have a red-head-lamp I use for viewing the things I want to see at night.

So here my solution to buying these expensive bulbs all the time.

First, I searched for a paint that is heat resistant. I found a can of Rustoleum Spray Paint for grills and other outside heat sources, it was $3.84. It can withstand temps of 1200F. Perfect! It is black. Oh well. That just means no light will get out. So then I got the appropriate size bulbs at walmart, 77 cents for 4 bulbs.

Then I went home and spray painted 2 test bulbs. Today, they will be dry, and I can test them. I am going to let them run for a full day or 2. If they are still working and all looks well, I will be trying them with my tokays.

I will post again in a few days with the results. If this works, I am going to save a butt load on bulbs.

 

RE: Tired of buying red-heat bulbs? Me too. Here

As far as just a plain red light bulbs, they sell them dirt cheap at Lowes, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc. They are only a buck.

 

RE: Tired of buying red-heat bulbs? Me too. Here

They only seem to be 5-9$ if you buy them from the pet store.

 

Shrap, arent those bulbs too bright red to use. I wouldnt even use the Zoo Med red bulbs. They are intensely bright. And I could see my tokays pupils get smaller when I turned it on. The ESU red heat bulbs are the only ones I ever used, and they are $5-$8 a piece depending on wattage.

Do you use those red bulbs from the store, red party bulbs?

And this way, there will be no light, just heat. Which is what I want.

 

Well if no light and heat only is the goal then what you are doing should work great.

No I never had an issue using the red bulbs from Lowes, etc to supplement my UTH in winter. I dont use any bulbs anymore since I have a dedicated herp room now. I just regulate the temps of the room so it is never lower than 75.

 

Wow nuggular, What a great idea! I agree about those zoo med bulbs. They give off a lot of light. That's why I use the ESU bulbs.

 

I tested them today at lunch. No problems. They work fine. And no, the heat does not get trapped by the paint. In fact, I could feel the heat from the bulb as soon as I turned it on. I put 3 coats of the black paint that is good to 1200 degrees Farenhiet. You can't even see a speck of light coming out. Perfect.

 

hey, how hot do those bulbs get? how much hotter will they get than the room's temp
if you get temps on them let us know, I wouldn;t mind a cheaper and equally warm solution for lamps. thanks!

 

They are probably similar to cheap ceramic heat emmiters! Pretty good idea, I must agree! And for Bearded dragons, they cannot even have red bulbs at night, so this would be a cheap alternitive to both!

Great idea!

Kory

 

Well the bulb itself got up to 425 Degrees. That was the 60 Watt. I put it on my moorish gecko tank, which is a 20 gallon tall, and it heated up his tank nicely. Halfway up the tank was at 82F under the lamp, and on the ground directly under the lamp, it was like 78F. Right under the lamp about 5 inches away it was 89F. On the cooler side of the tank it was 72F. I also painted a 40 watt bulb I am going to be trying today.

I by accidently scratched a couple of pin hole chips out of the paint. It gave a great effect. It looked just like stars up in the sky on the bulb, and it gave off just a tiny bit of light that resembled moonlight. I was such a tiny amount of dim light. I might just have to purposely put a few pins hole scratches in each bulb.

 

awesome! that sounds great, thanks for finding out the temps. i will have to make some star bulbs over the summer, hee!

 

Wow, stars! Such a great Idea!

 

Re: solution to red-heat bulbs

I would be concerned with fumes/vapors. Most items that are painted and used with heat sources recommend "curing" with adequate ventilation. Most cheap carbon dioxide detectors at Walmart will pick up these types of vapors or if you have a local volunteer fire dept. they would probably be willing to meter the bulb for gases.

 

RE: Re: solution to red-heat bulbs

What I meant to say in carbon monoxide detectors. Sorry, good luck and keep us informed. Thanks.

 

RE: Re: solution to red-heat bulbs

I'll have to give that a try. I bough a ceramic heat 'bulb' for my WD. They are -really- expensive, but they're supposed to last longer. But if I can get the same results this way, I'm all for it.

Any idea how much a carbon monoxide detector would cost?

 

RE: Re: solution to red-heat bulbs

wat about the infa-red bulbs from zoo med think there too bright?

 

RE: Re: solution to red-heat bulbs

great idea nuggular!!
why can't you use red bulbs for bearded dragons?

 

RE: Re: solution to red-heat bulbs

Has anyone looked into this lately? Was curious if anyone tested for fumes and whatnot,and if there was any type of fire hazard?

 

RE: Re: solution to red-heat bulbs

Heres the update. The can of spray paint said it would give of a smell and vapor that is harmless when first used. I let the bulb sit for a full day being on. Then I tested it out with my moorish gecko. Worked great.

 

RE: Re: solution to red-heat bulbs

Good idea. One suggestion is turn the light on out in your garage for a day that way any fumes would burn off before it got into your reptiles tank. I am going out to make one right now.
Thanks very much