I have a ceramic heat element above my Leopard tort enclosure to keep it warm.
This is now my 2nd ceramic bulb in less than 8 months.
I got a ceramic clamp light fixture that has a max of 250watt
Both my ceramic heat elements broke at the base (both only 100watt)...like where it screws into the fixture..Not only am I out 2 heat elements I have to use a needle nose plyers to get the end out...
Exo Terra 100 watt is what I have.

Any suggestions? Thanks for listening to my vent..

I have one that keeps coming loose there, but hasn't totally broken off yet! I know how frustrating that is~!!!!!!!!!!

Good grief, have you contacted ExoTerra...those are not cheap $2.00 bulbs from the hardware store...
They should know what's going on before someone sues them for a fire or severely injured animal...

I'm sure they wouldn't back the product because I didn't buy their "lamp"

That's absurd...if it is the recommded combination in general...
Maybe the store you bought it from?

What would the difference in the actual lamp make in the performance of the bulb?

I have been using the same thing. But have had mine over a year. I would deficiently contact the manufacturer of Exo Terra heat element and lodge a complaint. As long as you have it in a ceramic based lamp it shouldn't make a difference.
Also If you unplug it and shove a potato into the broken area it should work to unscrew it instead of needle nose pliers to get the end out... as pliers may damage the threads of the lamp.
Can't blame you for being upset Tracy-they are expensive.

While on the subject of rants about lights and things, I'll have to check my receipts again (I've bought and returned so many things by now that I am totally confused!), I think I might have been wildly fleeced by Petco for the Reptisun 10 UVB light I bought, and have been quite irked at how difficult these clip lamp fixtures they sell to go with them are to put together (now if I can build a whole cage from scratch including making a secure cover myself, but can't put the freaking lamp assembly together right, maybe I should just give up????)..........

Thanks for the heads-up, because the most recent upgrade to Farishta's house has been a ceramic heating unit in another one of those ceramic-socket clip-on thingies.

-BK

p.s. love the potato fix idea, Crazy one!

Thanks BK, and never give up we can beat those stupid thingies.
The Reptisun 10 UVB bulb you bought is it the long florescent one or the small spiral one? I have read on line there is some kind of problem with the (screw-in type) florescent twist bulb (compact screw-in type) and reptiles- excessive shedding etc.
Lighting link http://www.anapsid.org/liteheat.html

I know Petco prices on the bulbs are HIGH.
Once you have your habitat set up you might look online. I have bought all of my lights online including my Mercury Vapor bulb – Petco charges $79.00 to $89.00 for one 100 watt bulb, when they carry them. I found them online for $37.00 and a much better brand. And I have also bought my ceramic heat emitters etc. online for much better price.

Clamp lights are the pits to master. You are right the clampy thingies a pain. Four hands help and it also is better to use a bolt, with a Philips head (+) and a nut rather than that stupid wing nut they put in those that don’t want to work because it is always hitting on something. Phew- OK, that’s out of my system now. Couldn’t tell I HATE those things could you? What I did find out last night is that the ceramic bases in the lamps are in two pieces. And yes they screw in to each other. While I was unscrewing a bulb it unscrewed and all of a sudden I had the lamp in one hand and the bulb with the ceramic-or part of the ceramic base in the other and all the wires were exposed. I am no genus, I had turned the lamp off but not unplugged it. So now I don't want the wires exposed and I am trying to unplug it and I cant set it down because the bulb is hot -Genus me using my oven-glove. Had to use my feet to unplug it. Then it was loads of fun trying to screw those two ceramic parts back together even after it cooled- no place to grab hold of. OK now its really out of my system.

ROFLMAO!!! Sounds like just the sort of thing that would happen to me….Actually at one point I discovered that when I mismatched the threads when screwing in the heating unit and tried to back it out, I noted that the socket was unscrewing itself from the rest of the assembly and got so frustrated I was about to throw the whole business through the living room window!

Anyway, as for the UVB light I got the compact twisted type, so I wonder if at this point it would be worth taking it back to Petco and seeing if I could exchange it for the straight one, but that means I need the housing for that type, and on and on….However, I have my suspicions that my lighting is not quite right, so I may do just that. thanks very much for the link to the page about lighting!

-Brenda

P.S. You can imagine my intense annoyance when I read the fine print inside that really expensive UVB bulb package and found that they are supposed to be replaced every six months - %@$#/////!!

every six months? thats dumb! if thats the case they should lower the price on the darn things.