Ceramic heat emitter

Question
Hello,

I am looking to get a ceramic heat emitter to provide a seconday source for my bearded dragon. I was wondering if you have a graph or a chart showing a heat gradiant of different wattages of bulb. IE: Like a 150 watt bulb will be like 100 degrees at 12 inches or so? I am looking for a bulb to provide additional heat with a 100 watt mercury vapor bulb at 12 inches. Also, can I have a ceramic heat bulb in the cage up high without a dome around it?

Answer
Hi Tyler,
There are no charts that I know of that show that information.The closeet I know of is one showing what size(wattage) is recommended for x size of tank.
I use the heat projectors from reptileuv...have used them for years and they work well without the risk of being too hot...actually safe to the point that if a reptile does touch it, they will not get burned. I am not a fan of having any heat source unprotected inside a cage. If that is the way you must set it up, I would not use anything other than the reptileuv heat projector..link below.  Also, I would place it in an area that would be the safest for your beardie...but again, I don't recommend them being used unprotected at a close distance. Under no circumstances would I ever use a ceramic heat emitter like that.

http://www.reptileuv.com/megaray-hp-60-watt-heat-projector.php  this heat projector actually is only 60 watts, but puts out more heat than an 80 watt ceramic heat emitter..and much more safely.

Unless your basking temperature is lower than the 95-105 gradient range you should'nt need more heat in that area. Remember, its only the basking area that has to be that warm...then you have your ambient temperature in the mid/upper 80's and your cool area which is fine at normal room temperatures. Using a good thermometer is needed which is where a temperature gun comes in handy to spot check areas and of course using a thermometer with the wire that has a probe attached works very well as the probe can be placed right in the basking area, at the beardies level to get a good reading. Ceramic heat emitters aren't designed to heat large areas, but to heat an items in a smaller spot. Basically, they don't heat the air, they heat objects.
If you need to add extra heat to the entire cage(or even a smaller area) without adding more lights to the cage, you may want to check into heat panels.. you can see what I mean and read more about them at: http://www.pro-products.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Item...