A few simple(or not) lighting/heat questions.

Okay so I got my first corn about 5 months ago. She has been doing good, but I have some issues with temp. and lighting

1. The light that came with my viv kit is HOT. I'm talking 90+ degrees after it has been on about 30 minutes. Plus is is extremely bright. I would only leave it on for about an hour a day. The bulb was a light, clear blue? I'm not sure what kind it was, only that it was to hot (I think). I recently switched to flourescent, which emits a little heat but not much. The temp on the warm side sits at about 80 and on the cool...about 75. Is that enough of a difference? At night I put on a dark purple light that emits an ambient heat and she loves it. Stays under it alot but she would never stay under the blue/clear bulb. Is it okay to leave the dark light on all day as a heat source and do away with bright lights period? Or do they need light? If so, should I use the HOT blue/clear bulb or the warm flurescent? Any help would be good

Also, post some pics of your vivs and how your lamps are set up. Maybe that will help

They don't need light, they really just need heat. The dark purple light on all day is what I would do. As long as the ambient light in your room is light enough she should know that it's day and night. Definitely don't use the really hot light or the fluorescent. 90 is too hot and 80 is too cool to properly digest.

I don't use lamps with mine since they don't require light. It's in my room which has a window so the ambient light is enough for him to know day and night. I do have a simple blue LED setup to simulate moonlight, it's VERY dim, but can be turned brighter if I want to view him at night without turning on the room light. As for heating, I use a UTH and it works just fine. Remember, you don't necessarily need basking heat, but you need belly heat, it helps their digestion.

Okay another question...can I use the UTH on a wood surface? My tank is set up on a antique bookshelf in my room and its wood...will it burn the surface or is it not that hot?

Also, my room temp stays about 80. The dark light brings it up to about 85. I jsut checked it.

The UTH will dry out the wood surface underneath. You will have to keep moving the tank and polishing it to keep it nice.

You could put a board or thick towel or carpet swatch, etc. between the UTH and the bookshelf. This has worked for me, but the heat will eventually bleach out the color of the towel/carpet.

Okay well as long as it won't burn the wood or anything. And an old peice of carpet would work pretty good...just worried how much it will heat things up. Does it get hot enough to start a fire or anything like that?

May be a dumb question, but I'm new to the whole UTH idea...