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Heat question

P

pkendall83

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I have used heat tape for my dragon enclosures with uvb 10.0 lighting. Does anyone else
Use heat tape for basking? I wish I had had lights installed in my cages now so I could use bulbs for basking. They sit on the heat tape and digest their food fine so I think it's fine. Just curious


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You should not use heat tape. Dragons do not feel heat from below and can wind up burning their belly. They must have heat from above even if it's just from a regular incandescent bulb. If you are using a coil UVB 10.0 then I recommend switching that to a tube 10.0 bulb as the coils have been shown to cause eye issues.
 
pkendall83 said:
I have used heat tape for my dragon enclosures with uvb 10.0 lighting. Does anyone else
Use heat tape for basking? I wish I had had lights installed in my cages now so I could use bulbs for basking. They sit on the heat tape and digest their food fine so I think it's fine. Just curious


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Click to expand...
Not sure of the type of cages you have but wiring up an overhead lamp socket is usually pretty easy and cheap.
 
Ok I will look into switching it out. The heat tape.
3ddf2ca39406535f39ce2b4d107a4751.jpg
. That is my setup. They are pvc. Can I install lighting on these? They are not compact bulbs as u can see from my picture. Zoomed 10.0. The guy who made these said I could use the heat tape as long as I regulate it. Which I do


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You can't use heat tape. They won't feel it. So whoever he is, is wrong. But good on you for making the switch.

I believe you can install lighting in there. All I do in my tank (and even when I had multiple tanks) is use a clamp light and a regular incandescent bulb. I don't know if it would melt your tanks though as they are PVC, I've never owned PVC tanks. Only glass.

Here's a link to the lights that I use.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bayco-8.5-Clamp-Light/14003467
 
Btw, it's best to solder the wire ends before connecting but it's not necessary, just cleaner. You could also wrap the exposed wire around the shank below the screw head for an alternative connection. Also, connect the hot wire (narrow prong on plug) to the center terminal (where the base of the bulb bottoms out); I'm not sure if I did that way in this pictorial. The lamp will work either way but it's a safety issue. I recommend splicing in an inline on/off or dimmer switch somewhere along the cord which can be done at any time. Please make sure the cord is unplugged before doing any electrical work.
 
That looks really good Justin. I could never do that, which is why I buy already made. lol But that's a good idea!
 
Mistyck said:
That looks really good Justin. I could never do that, which is why I buy already made. lol But that's a good idea!
Click to expand...
Brandi thanks, and I'm sure you could. Btw, the lamp socket cost me $0.85 and both screws and nuts were $0.20 and I borrowed the cord from a lamp.:)
 
Idk what to do about it. I wish I had the lights installed when he made the cages, I have uvb fixtures in them but no heat fixtures


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pkendall83 said:
Idk what to do about it. I wish I had the lights installed when he made the cages, I have uvb fixtures in them but no heat fixtures


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I guess the pictorial didn't help lol. You can always get an electrician to do the work but the overall cost is going way up.
 
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