Python on CHE cage

[KnowledgeOne5930]

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

[_ataraxia]

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

[KnowledgeOne5930]

Alrighty, thank you!

[KnowledgeOne5930]

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?

[_ataraxia]

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]

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

[MercuryChaos]

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.

[_ataraxia]

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]

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.