CHEs are nice because they do not emit light. The surface of a ceramic will get very hot however, easily hot enough to burn flesh if touched for more than a few seconds. It is important that the reptile will not come in direct contact with the bulb. Other than that, they are great, and reptiles seem to really enjoy the type of heat produced. I've used 60 watt CHEs connected to a lamp dimmer, for a ball python. It worked out wonderfully. That cage was about 14 inches tall, with a screen top, on top of which the reflector and CHE rested. If your cage is taller, you might need a higher wattage. If using higher than 60 watts of CHE, you should use a 10" aluminum dome reflector with ceramic socket. The 10" dia dome acts as a better heatsink than the smaller dia domes, so less heat reaches up into the socket, while plenty still reflects down into the cage.



As for reptiles not seeing red light, I certainly do not know, but I can't imagine that their eyes filter out all light even if on the red side of the spectrum. They must detect some glow I would guess, even if minimal.
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Mark

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• Heat Bulb / Ceramic Heater Opinions - kyleontheweb, Thu Jun 12 06:47:37 2003
• RE: Heat Bulb / Ceramic Heater Opinions - markg, Thu Jun 12 11:01:32 2003
• Thanks for your thoughts on this! n/p - kyleontheweb, Fri Jun 13 07:34:06 2003