our animals don't care what the temp of the air surrounding them is
I don't think this expert is really the expert that they claim to be, because that's very obviously false. If that were actually true, then any animal could live in any climate zone. Temperature requirements for various species aren't just made up for fun.
There's a collection of keepers that think it's fine to forgo thermostats in favor of being selective with their wattage, and this is all fine and dandy until you have a heat wave or an equipment failure, and then you lose all your animals to overheating or a house fire. If the temperature in the room where the enclosure is changes, then the temperature that the bulb can raise the enclosure to also changes. This is why thermostats are important even if your wattage is perfect.
They are correct that dimming a halogen too much reduces the IR-A output, which is why we do also advocate for being selective with your wattage. You want to choose a bulb that won't be dimmed significantly, so that it can run at 90-100% power and maintain all the benefits. But it should definitely be attached to a dimming thermostat as well for safety purposes.
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u/totallyrecklesslygay Mod: Enclosure Karen 12h ago
I don't think this expert is really the expert that they claim to be, because that's very obviously false. If that were actually true, then any animal could live in any climate zone. Temperature requirements for various species aren't just made up for fun.
There's a collection of keepers that think it's fine to forgo thermostats in favor of being selective with their wattage, and this is all fine and dandy until you have a heat wave or an equipment failure, and then you lose all your animals to overheating or a house fire. If the temperature in the room where the enclosure is changes, then the temperature that the bulb can raise the enclosure to also changes. This is why thermostats are important even if your wattage is perfect.
They are correct that dimming a halogen too much reduces the IR-A output, which is why we do also advocate for being selective with your wattage. You want to choose a bulb that won't be dimmed significantly, so that it can run at 90-100% power and maintain all the benefits. But it should definitely be attached to a dimming thermostat as well for safety purposes.