Mounting lights

From UroWiki

Lights and heat emitters should be mounted in such a way that the lizard cannot physically reach them (this includes by climbing and then jumping from a nearby ledge). If necessary, a protective grille should be near the light. However, please note that although placing lamps above the enclosure is good, use of a mesh screen should be avoided directly underneath them. This is because the mesh may heat up to extremely high temperatures under a heat source, and also because mesh screens can easily block up to 50% of the useful emissions of a UVB-emitting bulb, rendering it almost useless to the lizard.

Different lighting arrangements

Hot-to-cool layout

There are only a couple of possible lighting arrangements in most enclosures, due to physical limitations, and so most people will use the basic layout where one end is the hot end, and the opposite is the cool end. This provides the temperature gradient from warm to cool, and can be set up with the hot end on either side of the enclosure, as the enclosure builder chooses.

This is the basic heating layout, and is the easiest to setup and maintain effectively, and so is most recommended to new keepers or those building an enclosure for the first time.

Central basking area layout

The other possibility is to have a basking area (primary and sole or a secondary, non-UVB area) towards the center of the enclosure, and provide more heat to one side then the other, but it will be difficult to produce a stable and reliable temperature gradient in the enclosure. This may be difficult or impossible in an enclosure with a floor space of 4x2 feet, although it may possibly be done if the enclosure is 5' or longer.

In either case, it is strongly recommend to have a vent near any bulbs, to keep the bulbs from overheating. It is also sensible to put a vent at both the cool and warm end just to allow a fresh exchange of air in through the cool end vent and out the warm end vent (as we know that heat rises, and cool air falls). This should provide air flow throughout the enclosure without the need for fans, although if this doesn't work as planned, the use of positive pressure and fans may be required. The use of a thermostat is strongly encouraged.