Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm finally going to start building my new cages, and I want to figure out what to use for lighting. Everything will be inside the cage. I found these flourescent fixtures which seem to be a decent price:

http://doitbest.com/shop/product.asp?mscssid=7S6LEBHFE53G8LET8GFEWDHT0NWL4DFC&dept_id=1012&sku=523275

I would have one over the basking spot with a UV bulb, and at least on more down over the cool side with a regular flourescent. I was wondering if I should be worried about the price. With a lower priced fixture, is there a higher chance of something going wrong that could possibly cause a fire?

Then for the flourescent fixtures I want something like this:

http://customcages.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=12&category_id=77e0fd73a339b6884a155309303b4a2f&ps_session=f1b18c787158f29e9ed79d6bd40fe6c7

That price seems a little steep though. Do they offer a similar kit at homedepot or lowes, or a similar place? I can't remember where, but I know I saw cages to go over lights somewhere so the animals can't get to them, anyone know where I could get those?

Finally, I've also been thinking about how many cord there will be...quite a bit. For the two cages I'll be using, it would be around 6-8 cords already, and when I use the last one, it could be 9 or 10...I'm going to use a surgeprotector to plug them all in, so I'd look for one with probably about 9 places to plug in. Are there any serious fire risks to having this many things plugged in. I know the majority of them will be low wattage (the 15 watt flourescents), but I'm sort of a worried wart about that sort of thing.

Let me know if you have answers to any of my questions. Thanks.

for the second link I meant to say "for the incandescent fixtures".

First off, use what you want. If using incandescent heat lamps or other bulbs that get hot, use a metal junction box to attach the ceramic fixture to (i.e. don't just screw a ceramic fixture to the wood top if the fixture is going to hold a very hot bulb.)

As far as outlet strips/surge protectors, they are usually rated 1650 Watts. If you have 10 cords but only say 200 Watts of load, then you're fine. However, for the sake of organization, it is best to use 2 outlet strips (12 receptacles) for the 10 cords.

If you know how to wire, you can use a junction box and wire a few of the cords into one cord. The drawback is you can't unplug one light without taking out a few others, so plan accordingly if you do this. One way to help with this is to wire in switches into the junction box. Then you can switch individual fixtures on and off and only have one line cord feeding the cage.
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Mark