Rant: Light fixtures

[MNGuy]

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.