Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Right now my main heat source is a high wattage bulb and I want to bring it down and found that I can get my desired temps with a much lower watt bulb, but I had a question.

Lets say that I have a bulb for basking 1ft or 18" above the top board on the retes stack. My monitor would be able to reach that, and the metal on the fixture does get pretty hot.

Mainly I'm worried about the heat-rock problem, with her climbing up and getting burnt. Has anyone had a problem with this? Or are they smart enough to avoid the fixture and keep themselves from getting burnt?

Thanks for any information,
~GK

use indoor/outdoor spot lamps. a 45 watt bulb will create a 130 degree basking spot at 18 inches and they dont get very hot. they are much more durable as well.

Stay under it too long and burn spots, if the basking area is large enough (hotspot) to cover their whole STV they can warm up evenly. They will on occaision climb things but not stay on them long enough to burn if they are set up good enough. I use 45 watt halogen floods (outdoor), they make a 135-170f or higher basking spot at 12.5-13 inches, it depends on other cage conditions, basking spot materials etc. (I use 3/4 inch plywood). If they cannot warm up properly they stay under the lights too long and can burn themselves.

Thank you two for the information, you both win a cookie =)

My .02 is that any type of bulb or electrical fixture should be set up in a way that there is no way that it could be reached by a captive reptile. The light should either be high above or seperated by some type of wire mesh.
Neal
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pale reason hides the infinite from us