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I know clip on lamps are meant to be clipped to the edge of the tank but Im wondering how safe they are. I keep thinking that they might fall in there somehow. Has that ever happened to anyone? Any ideas on how to reinforce them just to ease my worried mind or am I obsessing about them for no reason and they are totally safe?

Does anyone on here turn all the basking lights off when they leave the house for any given time or just leave them on? Any recommendations?

I don't use a clamp light but a stand instead so I can't help you there. But I have my lights on a timer so it comes on and goes off by itself daily. So when I leave the house it stays on. It's really important for them to get the 10-12 hours of lighting they need.

I have clamp lights on my tank and I've had no problem with them yet.

the screw on a clamp lamp let go in my friend's tank, it blew the bulb and since she doens't give a damn about her turtle, I had to clean out the glass. (she took the big pieces out, but I found a ton of shards in the bottom) I'll never use a clamp lamp.

I am a little hesitant about the clamp lamps, although I have never had any problems with them. I use alot of the stands that holds up the lamps.

Not to scare you, but I know of a girl on another forum who had a whole basement full of turtles and tortoises. A clamp lamp holding either a bulb or a ceramic heat emitter fell into one of the tort's tanks. Burned the basement down. One of her box turtles survived by sitting in his water dish, but a lot of animals were lost and there was extensive damage throughout the house. There's always a chance that something will go wrong, but all we can do is take precautions to prevent it, and relax.

I should add that I use clamp lamps on both my enclosures but there is a barrier between the light and the tank so there's no way, even if the clamp broke, that the lamp would fall into the tanks.

what is a tortoise doing in a tank? don't most if not all torts need X number of feet to live in, where as an aquatic turtle needs X number of gallons?

I am guessing she meant a rubbermaid container or some sort of enclosure. Keeping tortoises in tanks is a very bad idea.

Im glad to know that most poeple have had no problems with the clamps. I havent had a problem with them yet, even when they were clipped to the rubbermaid container. It seems like the ones that have had problems could have possibly avoided them by just giving regular maintainance to the lamps.

Everytime I feed her daily, that shes away from her tank, I check the lamps. I always make sure the bulbs are on securely, the screws are on tightly and the clamps are holding strong and well. I also dont keep anything near the lamps that can touch them.

Im going to add a little extra protection by securing the wire just to make sure the lights stay as straight as possible with no possibility of falling forward.

Sorry. I said 'tank' when I should have said 'enclosure'. Bradhart and Jessica are right. Torts should never be kept in tanks.

This is a good topic to get a refresher about electrical safety. A GFCI/GFI outlet and working smoke detectors are highly recommended. My clamp lamps are partially resting on the side or the bar across the tank for extra support. A drip loop is also a good idea for any electrical devices in/near your tank

I use both stands and clamp lamps, depending on the tank size and set-up. I've never had a problem with the clamp lamps, but I always try to position them or reinforce them so that they just can't fall into the tank. Depending on the lamp, some people place the reflective domes on metal screens.

marisa wrote:I use both stands and clamp lamps, depending on the tank size and set-up. I've never had a problem with the clamp lamps, but I always try to position them or reinforce them so that they just can't fall into the tank. Depending on the lamp, some people place the reflective domes on metal screens.

Marisa, how have you reinforced yours? I have a good idea on how to do it but I would like other ideas I might not have thought of.

Ive definitely done the drip loop with all the electrical wires of my tank.

I've used hardware cloth (the mesh with the 1/2 inch holes over the part of the tank where the lights could possibly fall to prevent them from ever hitting the water. If the clamp has seemed loose/can be moved easily (one in particular I have), I've stuck a piece of wood where it will be clamped to the tank to give it a thicker area to clamp to (this was on a stock tank). (I hope that made sense.)