I am a newbie myself so anyone else replying feel free to say i'm talking rubbish lol.I know the basics but not a huge amont i use a Infra-red Lamp 50W on a dimmer stat which you will need for bulbs, pulse stat for ceramic, which dont interupt pacmans day/night cyles unlike other animals which red glowing bulbs can. in the room my pacman is in it's about 69f-71f at a push i tried a heat mat on the side and got to about 72f (they dont heat air just objects in the way of its rays) so i had to try other things i had a dimmer stat spare so just for a way to save money i settled on a heat bulb rather then ceramic but both are ok, yes bulbs can dry it out but i'v had no trouble as the rate in which it drys out is abit slower if your using infrared heat bulbs as a 24 hour heat source rather then a bright sun like bulb in day then infrared or blue glow at night which i guess the bright ones would dry it out quicker i'm getting 80-83 day time temps now then the lowered for nightime as i said both cermic and bulbs are ok as your not a great deal away from the right temps i'd say bulb but its up to you.