Basking Lamp bulbs

[Beaula21]

Hello! (my first post yay!)

So, we bought our RT Loki about three weeks ago, along with all items for his new home... We have a UVB lamp as well as a 100w basking lamp that we bought from Petsmart. His lighting situation is on a timer to ensure that he gets the full duration of light without cutting it short if we want to sleep in or might be out for the night. Today when we woke up his basking light bulb was out. My husband (dirt_inc) was kinda PO'd bc we JUST bought that expensive bulb three weeks ago and it's already out! So our question is can we use a regular household light bulb for his basking bulb or do we need to drop another $40 on the basking bulb? Like I said we have the UVB lamp still working and meanwhile have a heat emitter so he doesn't get cold until we get a new basking bulb for him.

Any advice is welcome!

 

[DaveandHeather]

Take it back to petsmart. They should refund it

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Which UVB bulb are you using? You may not need both.

Def take the bum bulb back, as said. Or did it come with a warranty from the manufacturer?

 

[Yvonne G]

If your burned out bulb was a Mercury Vapor Bulb, you must also use the ceramic-base fixture. You can't screw a MVB into a plastic fixture - the bulb gets too hot. This might be why it burned out.

 

[Yvonne G]

If your burned out bulb was a Mercury Vapor Bulb, you must also use the ceramic-base fixture. You can't screw a MVB into a plastic fixture - the bulb gets too hot. This might be why it burned out.

 

[Tom]

If your tortoise gets some regular sunshine a few times a week, you don't need any indoor UV. I don't know what you are using but $40 sound like a MVB. I run those in large heavy duty 11" aluminum domed Home Depot fixtures and they last a long time. If your other bulb is the coil type cfl florescent bulb, I would return that and not use it. They can burn reptile eyes. There are better safer alternatives.

To answer your question: Yes. You can use a regular household bulb for heat and light. My tortoises get sun all the time so that is what I use indoors all year. I prefer the 65 watt flood bulbs.

Here are a couple of threads for you:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/