Humidity bad for lighting?

[Schnab]

I am getting ready to start putting my enclosure together but I was wondering if humidity would be bad for the lighting if I were to put them on the inside of the enclosure.

 

[omgtaylorg]

of course not, then nobody would have lights most lights are on the insides of the cage, and even if its on the screen, humidity still evaporates into the lights, they are most likely made to withstand that since thats what they are for, ive never had a problem.

 

[DaveDragon]

Unless you have near 100% condensing humidity I wouldn't worry about it. The heat of the bulbs will keep any moisture from condensing on them anyway.

 

[mr.tegu]

as long as water/mist does not come in contact with the bulb after hours of operation humidity wont hurt. But cold water on a super hot balb will pop.

 

[DaveDragon]

But cold water on a super hot bulb will pop.

More like BOOM!!! :shock:

 

[Red Earth Exotics]

explosions can be fun....just not inside a reptile cage

 

[Schnab]

Alright, thanks guys. I'll keep that "cold water on bulb bad" part in mind. My main fear was bulbs popping in the cage and leaving a big mess of glass shards. :roll:

 

[Schnab]

Sorry for the double post but does anyone have any suggestions for a basking light that lasts? I'm returning an Exo Terra Sun Glo Neodymium basking spot lamp that broke after 15 days.

 

[DaveDragon]

Don't waste your money on those expensive incandescent reptile heat bulbs! I use halogen bulbs from Home Depot, they put out much more heat, are more rugged and last longer (some are rated for 6000 hours!). Just don't spray them directly with water.

 

[Schnab]

Do they immit any UV?

 

[DaveDragon]

No, they just get real hot!

 

[Schnab]

Well until he's old enough to not need as much UV i'll just get my bulb replaced. One more thing though, for those who have lighight on the inside, how did u set it up?

 

[DaveDragon]

I have all lights behind 1/2" hardware cloth so they can't directly touch them or smash them.

 

[Schnab]

I ment for how to install the lights. I want uv lights on the inside but am unsure of how to proceed. I just want to get it right the first time.

 

[Red Earth Exotics]

I will show you what I did on my retic cage. It should work just fine for a MV bulb also. The only thing different would be you would have to use a different guard, if one is even needed. I took a 1 3/8'' hole saw and cut a hole in the top of my cage. I then took a porcelain keyless light fixture ($3 at lowes/home depot) and mounted it over the hole. I took some 12/2 with ground romex, wired it up to the fixture and then to a switch which I mounted on the side of the cage.

the wiring

If you are wanting to use a tube light, then just take the fixture and either surface mount it with screws to the top of the cage, or you can attach some jack-chain to either side and hang it from the top at whatever height you want. Most of those come with cords attached so you shouldn't have to wire it. Just route the cord up the chain and drill a small hole to route it outside the cage. Hope this is info helps.

 

[Schnab]

Wow thanks alot for the visual aids! This will come in very usefull.

 

[Red Earth Exotics]

glad it helps. keep us updated, i want to see the finished project. i'm going to be building my first tegu enclosure in the next couple of months. this is the first lizard enclosure i will be building...snakes are easy to build for. lizards are a lot more demanding....

 

[Schnab]

Tell me about it! I will definately post pictures whenever possible. Well good luck to ya, I guess we're both on the same boat XD