Does anyone know the best place to get a heat lamp from.

Any suggestions welcome please.

Ebay

Thanks will have a look.

And does anyone know the best kind to get? Or have a recommendation? They seem to range in price quite a bit and I can't really figure out why.

I have been told not to get the red bulb but is it possible to use to ceramic bulbs I am seeing?

Have a look at agricultural merchants such as Countrywide or Mole Valley Farmers etc - they are as cheap there as most places online.  Look for one with two heat settings high/low

A friend recently bought this one for her litter - worked very well :)

If the litter are in the house (as most these days are) then many people and the bitches far prefer a heat pad, pups can go to the warmth and the bitch can get away from it.

With a lamp the heat is nearest the bitch, not the pups.

Another one who much prefers heat pads.  I have a heat lamp that was totally unsuitable.  As Barbara points out, pups will be drawn towards the heat while mum isn't suckling them.  It works so well I would never change.

Heat pad here too - much better than a heat lamp.

I do have a heat pad, but borrowed a lamp for the last litter. The puppies will be indoors. I found with the lamp I could adjust the height depending on how much heat needed and I had a thermometer probe in the box to check the temperature. If the pups were too warm they would go to the edges and I could adjust the lamp as necessary.

With the pad, the pup (only one) didn't seem to want to stay on it, so I wasn't sure if it felt too hot.

Mum is an independent lass and doesn't stay with puppies all the time anyway. She definitely finds the lamp too hot, but I don't make her sleep in there. I am in the same room all night and she goes in to feed them etc under supervision.

I just didn't have a good experience using the pad :( so if anyone has any tips I'm open to suggestions :)

Surprising about your experience with your pad - mine is what I would describe as lukewarm.  My pups used to go under it -  I think because it was warmer there!  But tbh they stopped using it at about two weeks and I now just make sure the room is kept at a constant comfortable temperature, they are now 4.5 weeks.  I would have been happy with a heat lamp if I could adjust the height, but I whelped in a covered cave so didn't have access from above.

After listening to people in here, I do now use a heat pad. However I also have a heat lamp in situ, probably because it is what I was used to and it is set up height adjustable.
Although we had the heating on all the time, I also found the pups did not always gravitate to the mat and was concerned about chilling. I liked the idea of having both options and knew when it was time to switch the lamp off because they then separated. I did not use the lamp at all from 2 weeks but left the mat on for quite a while especially at night At that time Mum was in with them most of the time but had periods where she would sit outside and just keep a watchful eye.
I think both have their place if you are carefully in control.

To check how much warmth your heatpad gives out, try setting it up as you would for puppies, then put a telephone directory on top of it.   After half an hour, slide your hand between the two and you'll feel the warmth.    Heating up a cold telephone directory takes longer than heating up a warm pup :-)

It should be a very gentle warmth, not hot   :-)

I used one with kittens but haven't needed one with pups, as my bitches are a bit like hens on eggs and won't leave the pups except when dragged out for toilet breaks ;-)