MNGuy
09-25-2018, 12:48 PM
WARNING: If you don't want to hear a rant, please leave now...
Can you humor me for a minute? I just started keeping a snake in July, and have not kept a reptile since I was a child, so a lot of things are new to me. Lighting is one of those things. I have my young eastern in a small tank now with a great but small combo lighting fixture that sits on the screen lid.
I recently upgraded to a 40 breeder, and I'm a little shocked by the lack of structurally solid lighting fixtures for these hot basking lights that are supposed to be on several hours each day when no one is home. I bought a clamp lamp and was a little surprised by how flimsy it felt once I assembled it. And what exactly is it supposed to clamp onto when your tank is covered with a screen? (I know some people clamp theirs onto a shelf above the tank, but that's not a conceivable arrangement for everyone.)
As someone who has worked around and witnessed a lot of house fires, the whole thing really put me off. I had to return the clamp lamp and find a stronger way to light my big tank. I was surprised with the few options we have to suspend basking lights over tanks. I bought one of those Zilla stands with the plate that goes under the tank, but even then, the domed light hood just hangs onto a hook.
Why aren't basking light fixtures more solidly made to avoid accidental tipping/falling/etc.? Wouldn't it be easy to make one like a gooseneck desk lamp but for tanks? Why isn't there a track system to secure onto the top of your tank that a domed light hood could slide into/attach to?
Coming from the world of freshwater and saltwater fishkeeping, where there are a million well-designed lights that fit onto tanks in myriad ways (and while I know that you can find substitute light fixtures that were made for other purposes), I can't understand why the reptile lighting scene hasn't come along further.
Logically I know that these reptile lights sitting on screen tops and hanging off hooks are mostly safe, and that many other electronics cause house fires every day, but viscerally, I can't shake the feeling I get when I look at how these reptile lights are structured, made and used compared to every other type of lighting fixture we use in our homes.
Anyway, thanks for listening.
Can you humor me for a minute? I just started keeping a snake in July, and have not kept a reptile since I was a child, so a lot of things are new to me. Lighting is one of those things. I have my young eastern in a small tank now with a great but small combo lighting fixture that sits on the screen lid.
I recently upgraded to a 40 breeder, and I'm a little shocked by the lack of structurally solid lighting fixtures for these hot basking lights that are supposed to be on several hours each day when no one is home. I bought a clamp lamp and was a little surprised by how flimsy it felt once I assembled it. And what exactly is it supposed to clamp onto when your tank is covered with a screen? (I know some people clamp theirs onto a shelf above the tank, but that's not a conceivable arrangement for everyone.)
As someone who has worked around and witnessed a lot of house fires, the whole thing really put me off. I had to return the clamp lamp and find a stronger way to light my big tank. I was surprised with the few options we have to suspend basking lights over tanks. I bought one of those Zilla stands with the plate that goes under the tank, but even then, the domed light hood just hangs onto a hook.
Why aren't basking light fixtures more solidly made to avoid accidental tipping/falling/etc.? Wouldn't it be easy to make one like a gooseneck desk lamp but for tanks? Why isn't there a track system to secure onto the top of your tank that a domed light hood could slide into/attach to?
Coming from the world of freshwater and saltwater fishkeeping, where there are a million well-designed lights that fit onto tanks in myriad ways (and while I know that you can find substitute light fixtures that were made for other purposes), I can't understand why the reptile lighting scene hasn't come along further.
Logically I know that these reptile lights sitting on screen tops and hanging off hooks are mostly safe, and that many other electronics cause house fires every day, but viscerally, I can't shake the feeling I get when I look at how these reptile lights are structured, made and used compared to every other type of lighting fixture we use in our homes.
Anyway, thanks for listening.