inside or outside

Hi. as you may know. i am building a enclosure for my ig and i was wondering if i should put my 3 clamp lamps on the inside of the tank? the bulbs i will be using are MegaRay SB100 bulbs from reptileuv.com and i am also using some heat emmiters for at night from the same company. they have been reported to not burn the animal when it is up against the animal but would it be alright if i clamped these onto a board on the inside of the enclosure. i have screen on the top for ventilation. thats all should i put it through the screen which has very small holes or should i put it inside or change the screen to chicken wire? thanks. Chris.

Hello,

It's always best to try and keep the lighting and heating elements out of the enclosure when possible. Its better this way to help prevent any accidental contact that could result in injury. (They could knock the items loose causing a fire, etc.)

You will need to upgrade the size of the wire. You can also just upgrade the wire where you will be placing the lighting elements. The heat will penetrate the smaller openings, but the light needs as little between them and the herp as possible. Unless I am mistaken, chicken wire has opening of about 3/4". That would be excellent!