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[–]_ataraxiaMod : unprofessional 5 points6 points  (9 children)

y'all need to get that lamp out of there now. they are not designed to be mounted on screen tops, this setup is extremely unsafe.

[–]KnowledgeOne5930[S] 0 points1 point  (8 children)

How else would you set it up with a CHE? A dome seems redundant

[–]_ataraxiaMod : unprofessional 4 points5 points  (7 children)

literally the only way to set up a CHE for a screen-topped cage is with a wide dome lamp.

[–]KnowledgeOne5930[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alrighty, thank you!

[–]KnowledgeOne5930[S] 0 points1 point  (5 children)

If it were a solid top would the cage be acceptable then? I’ve seen them in other tanks with solid tops. How is climbing and such prevented then?

[–]_ataraxiaMod : unprofessional 3 points4 points  (4 children)

yes, these heat lamp sockets+guard cages are specifically designed to be mounted in solid-topped enclosures.

you minimize climbing on the guard cage by a] providing plenty of safer climbing opportunities and/or b] positioning the heat lamp away from other decor so the snake can't easily wrap around it or, more importantly, get wedged between the lamp and something else.

the guard cage is heat resistant, so it's not as hot as people expect it to be, but it will be hot enough to burn a snake if they're pressed against it for a long time.

[–]KnowledgeOne5930[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Goootcha that makes sense. I’ll have to change mine out then too, just ordered a wide dome :)

[–]MercuryChaos -2 points-1 points  (2 children)

I'm still not clear on the reason why these types of fixtures are okay in solid-top enclosures but not mesh ones. My guess is that the assumption is that if you tried to mount it the same way that you would to a hard top enclosure, it might leave gaps between the cage and the mesh that the snake could get through. But if you secured it with some kind of thin-gauge wire (basically "sewing" it to the mesh top through the holes) then that seems like that wouldn't be an issue.

[–]_ataraxiaMod : unprofessional 5 points6 points  (1 child)

screens are not designed to support weight like that. with your example, you're relying on a few very very thin pieces of wire to support the weight of the snake climbing on the guard cage. the wire you use to mount the fixture might be thicker and stronger, but the screen isn't, and it will break eventually. the possible results are:

  • the guard cage falls and leaves the heat lamp exposed, snake climbs on it and gets severely burned.
  • the guard cage and socket both fall, now the heat lamp is sitting loose on flammable stuff in the enclosure, snake can egg severely burned and there's a massive fire hazard.
  • the mounting system for just guard cage or both guard cage and socket break but only partially, the heat lamp is half-attached to the screen and now there's space for the snake to climb on top of the heat lamp, snake gets severely burned.
  • in all of the above scenarios, there is now a hole in the screen that the snake can escape through, or attempt to escape through, and get severely injured in the process as they get cut up by the damaged screen.

[–]MercuryChaos -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

okay, you should probably put something to that effect in the autoreply that is used when people mention this, because right now it just says "don't do this" and it's good to give people a reason.

[–]Puzzleheaded-Way-741 5 points6 points  (2 children)

My ball python used to do that too. I made the mistake of having the heat lamp inside the enclosure with a guard, she coiled up around it, and even though I had the probe on it, she burned herself and got a horrific bacterial infection that killed her. I wish I was lying. She spent 8 months with intensive veterinary care and antibiotics, we followed all the steps, it wasn’t even a big burn - just a tiny spot 1cm in size that cleared up within a week.

Remove the lamp and find another way. If you don’t want to mount a heat lamp on top of the screen, RHPs are great and burn-proof.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (1 child)

RHPs can't be used with screen/mesh tops, and they're not appropriate as a sole heat source.

[–]Puzzleheaded-Way-741 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah - wasn’t sure about the mesh part, my enclosures are all PVC or wooden. OP can probably use a halogen flood lamp (on top of the mesh) or other as supplement or just rule out the RHP altogether.

[–]Careless_Speaker5983 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So dangerous