# Exo terra night glo



## steph2664 (Oct 24, 2011)

Hi everyone,

I've had Roxie, my Leopard gecko, for about a week now and I had to change her viv yesterday as I was sold a far too small one before I got her. I was stupid enough to trust the so called experts...
Anyway, now she has a 2ft wooden viv and my hubby installed a lamp holder near the top left side of the viv to be able to use a 25W Exo Terra Night Glo bulb for night viewing. This is the bulb I have: Exo Terra : Night Glo / Moonlight Lamp
The issue I have is that it took the bulb just seconds to get really warm and start heating the wood. We could actually feel the heat when putting our hand on the top of the viv. This was after just seconds... What would it be if left for hours on?
These bulbs are Not really supposed to heat much, Well that's what I thought anyway.
So, does anyone know if this is normal? If so, would it cause damage to the viv if I leave it on anyway? Or any advice on a lamp I could use to see her better at night?

Thanks for reading 

Steph


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## jools (Apr 4, 2009)

Hi Steph and welcome to RFUK!

A 25W bulb is just that - whether it is a moonlight bulb or ordinary. They will give off heat. How close to the surface of the viv is the bulb? Normally, with a standard fitting, they should be fine. You could try a 15W one (I'm sure they are available) if you are concerned. Personally I would not leave ANY lighting bulb on overnight. Although blue and red light are said not to be seen by Leos I am unconvinced. They certainly don't disturb the Leo as much as an ordinary white light but it is not natural for them to have light all night. Have the light on while you are watching the Leo by all means. Then turn it off when you are done.


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## steph2664 (Oct 24, 2011)

jools said:


> Hi Steph and welcome to RFUK!
> 
> A 25W bulb is just that - whether it is a moonlight bulb or ordinary. They will give off heat. How close to the surface of the viv is the bulb? Normally, with a standard fitting, they should be fine. You could try a 15W one (I'm sure they are available) if you are concerned. Personally I would not leave ANY lighting bulb on overnight. Although blue and red light are said not to be seen by Leos I am unconvinced. They certainly don't disturb the Leo as much as an ordinary white light but it is not natural for them to have light all night. Have the light on while you are watching the Leo by all means. Then turn it off when you are done.


Morning,
Thank you so much for your reply. 
The bulb itself is about 2 to 3 inch from the top of the viv so didn't think it would get hot. I only left the bulb on for about 20 sec and it was already too hot to be touched and taken off and had heated through the wood.
I was only going to have it on during the evening And then switch it off when I go to bed. She hasn't been coming out of her moist hide much since we've had her anyway as apparently she's going to be shedding soon (according to the shop guy) and with the stress of 2 new homes in a few days, she must have been a little bit stressed too. But at least she's eating fine with 1 to 2 large locusts a day which I think isn't bad at all. 
Since having her, I think the hardest has been to keep my hubby away from her because he can't wait to hold her and "play" with her 
Anyway, cheers again for your reply.


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## GlassWalker (Jun 15, 2011)

Like Jools said, a 25W bulb is going to get hot regardless of what kind of light it puts out. The night glo do put out a lot of heat especially as they don't put out much light. I have some of them and as the light is so minimal I just use them as a heat source!

If you want night light that's cool, lucky reptile have some interesting possibilities. One is a screw in moon lamp although if close it might be a bit bright. Other is night sky LED set which has many smaller individual blue LEDs. If you go for this one consider getting the extension kit too which doubles it from 3 to 6 LEDs for more light.


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## steph2664 (Oct 24, 2011)

Wow, that's perfect, thank you very much for the advice, I will get one of these and give it a go.


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