Construction WARNING!

[JayMillz]

Hey everyone, just a heads when you're building your enclosure or for your pre-existing one. Last night I was in the house working on schoolwork and my wife came home and said there was smoke in the garage and it STUNK! I went out there to see and from what I can figure, my male must've been mounting up on the female or some situation similar, and knocked the CHE off of its hook. The CHE landed in the position you would see it hanging from and underneath it the hay was charred completely black and if there would've been better oxygen flow under it I'm sure the house would've burned down. It's a blessing my wife got home early. Just a reminder to secure everything very tightly because you just never know. My son and I have clocked those CHE elements between 500-600 degrees.

 

[Yvonne G]

Whew! Another crisis averted.

This has always been a worry of mine, especially this year since I've started using the 150 watt red bulbs at night. They get SO hot!

 

[Katherine]

How scary, we can never be reminded enough. I am thankful yours was nothing more than a close call.

 

[tyrs4u]

I just get tons of clamps from Home Depot to keep the lamps & other things secured...

 

[JayMillz]

If 1 person reads this and goes and further secures their lamps, the post is well worth it. Don't be pretty sure, be 100% sure.

 

[acrantophis]

If 1 person reads this and goes and further secures their lamps, the post is well worth it. Don't be pretty sure, be 100% sure.

Great post! I am always worried about fires. I built my outdoor tortoise sleeping chamber out of cement blocks. I used 2 pieces of cement backer board as a roof. I tiled the roof and grouted it. The CHEs are zip tied onto rebar that were cemented in place. I have radiant heat panels on the walls just I'm case. Everything is on a thermostat outside the enclosure in its own sealed rubber made box. Indestructable and cheap!

 

[murdocjunior]

thank god everything is ok, Last year my reptile room had the same happen to me glad we saved our torties and house as well thanks to our smoke alarms ringing in the middle of the night.

 

[JayMillz]

You're very lucky too murdoc! I'll be putting a smoke alarm in the garage this weekend.

 

[wellington]

Close call. Glad all turned out okay. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Tony the tank]

I always chain everything to the ceiling... Clamps loose tension , heaters tip over... For $2.00 in chain it's worth the extra protection..

 

[Moozillion]

Thanks for the post! I had been meaning to secure Elsa's basking light better for several weeks, but hadn't gotten around to it. After reading your post, I went to Lowe's, spent a couple bucks on some chain and secured it better! Elsa thanks you!