Something to look for when using red bulbs....

[TylerStewart]

We had an unfortunate accident here that was an eye opener to me of something that I hadn't worried about previously....

On Tuesday afternoon, I noticed a female leopard acting funny, not moving around much, and her neck area seemed a bit swollen up. It was already a nice, warm, 75-80 degree day but I brought her inside thinking she was getting a respiratory problem and warmed her up more and soaked her in warm water. Within about an hour, she was dead. I took her in yesterday morning for a necropsy to figure out what killed her so I could avoid it in the future. The vet said they found a deep cut deep in the throat, likely from swallowing a rock or stick. It got badly infected and basically made her neck and airway swell to the point that she could no longer breathe. They went through her whole digestive system looking for an object to blame but found nothing. She (my vet) thought it had happened about a week ago and whatever the object was had probably already been passed.

Last night, I went looking in the enclosure for something to blame, since there's essentially no debris in there bigger than 1/4" size, and they're fed off of plates (fast food trays). I opened up the hidebox and discovered that one of their two red bulbs had broken, and there was many small pieces of red glass on the floor in there. I don't open the hides much so I don't know how long it had been broken for, but it immediately became apparent to me what she had swallowed. The bulbs are mounted inside the ceiling, but are a good 18" up off the ground and basically in the center, so I don't think a tortoise bumped it. I'm mostly tempted to think that rainwater found its way to a hot bulb and popped it. I've always been a fan of red bulbs because you can visually see that they're working at a quick glance, but now this has me worried. Just wanted to post an alert to anyone that might be using them. I was using two in that cage, so I didn't notice "lights out" that I would have noticed if there was only one bulb in there.

 

[kimber_lee_314]

Scary! I will keep this in mind with my own red bulbs. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[hlester22]

The other day, my 2 yr old was "helping" me feed the torts. Well she grabbed the squirt bottle and managed to squirt one of the red light bulbs. The bulb exploded. Luckily no one/tort was hurt. I can see how the same thing happened to you. Hot bulbs and cold water don't mix.

 

[froghaven5]

So sorry to hear of your loss. Shatterproof bulb need to be use where ever you think water can get to it. We learned that when we brooded ducks. Wouldn't have thought that would have been a concern in a tort area

 

[SulcataSquirt]

Sorry about your tort

 

[TylerStewart]

So sorry to hear of your loss. Shatterproof bulb need to be use where ever you think water can get to it. We learned that when we brooded ducks. Wouldn't have thought that would have been a concern in a tort area

I agree, it'd be nice to have, but every major red bulb in the reptile market that I can think of isn't shatter-proof.... There's some turtle ones that are splash proof, but I don't think they're red.

Just to clarify, I wasn't looking for sympathy on the loss, just was pointing out that besides the obvious danger of an exploding light bulb in wet conditions, clean up those broken pieces!

 

[Laura]

do you think the red color made her ingest it?

 

[TylerStewart]

do you think the red color made her ingest it?

Yes, I do.... Normally, they'd nibble at something, and if it's hard they drop it (I've seen them do that with many other things) but maybe she just didn't this time, or it broke in her mouth and accidentally took some in.

 

[wellington]

So sorry for your loss. That so sucks. Thanks for sharing with us. Some things we just don't think about until it's too late.
Just another warning/thing to watch?on those red bulbs. I don't know why this happened. I have a red bulb that I probably don't even have 2 months use on it. I just noticed that it has a worn ring around the outer edge of the bulb. Not sure if it means anything, but it is worn into a ruff ring.

 

[jaizei]

In the past, I've used a lamp guard as a frame and attached hardware cloth to it. It won't catch all the fragments but it'll help with the bigger shards.

For type A lamps: http://www.drillspot.com/products/678467/mcgill_1433_incandescent_lamp_guard
For larger wattage, flood, or brooder lamps: http://www.reptilia.org.uk/exo-terra-wire-heat-lamp-brooder-855-p.asp

 

[Madkins007]

Unfortunately, any tinting, color, coating, etc. on a bulb- red, blue, black, etc.- tends to make it run hotter. Since they seem to be made of the same glass as their clear brethren, it does put them at a higher risk for shattering.

 

[Tom]

Scary stuff. Thanks for the warning Tyler.

 

[dmmj]

Even though you don't want it, I am sorry you lost her, I know you do care for your animals deeply. Now not to sound mean, but do you think a CHE would work better in that case? thanks for sharing your story even through a tragedy hopefully something can be learned.

 

[TylerStewart]

Even though you don't want it, I am sorry you lost her, I know you do care for your animals deeply. Now not to sound mean, but do you think a CHE would work better in that case? thanks for sharing your story even through a tragedy hopefully something can be learned.

I think a CHE would have been better in this case.... I think they'd be less attracted to a white or black color as far as a food item goes. I don't know that they'd be any less likely to pop if it was water that caused it (never had a CHE explode). I would guess that they would just burn off small amounts of water. I do use ceramic heaters quite a bit also, I just don't like "assuming" that haven't burned out or come unplugged, and it gets time consuming to walk enclosure to enclosure at 10PM usually in my pajamas sticking my hand in to feel if it's warm in there or not. With the red lights I can look out the windows and see what's going on.

I think what I'd do differently is just use a single red bulb in each enclosure so that if it breaks, I notice it the next evening if not sooner. The fact that two red bulbs were running is part of the problem since this one could have been broken for a month, for all I know.

 

[HonuFonu23]

Aww man . Sorry for your loss and thanking for sharing the info. I have a red bulb in my Bubbas enclosure.