Can newspaper catch fire from a Heat lamp?

Question

I got a Heat lamp with a 40K watt lightbulb for my pet snakes tank. I use Newspaper for the bottom of the enclosure and just wanted to know if it can catch on fire from the heat of the bulb.

I put my hand over the lamp and my hand nearly cooked.

Answer 1

Well goodness... if it did?  You'd be having b-b-q'ed snake long beforehand!

Gracious!  I faint at the thought!  You need to be using a digital probe or Infrared Therm. gun. to monitor temp. outputs from the UTH pad and/or lamps on the area of basking or the floor of the tank, where the reptile lives/resides.

Ceramic emitters can be hot, also.  These temps. have to be adjusted with a Rheostat, or by distance placement, and the heat output must be measured...

The tank needs a cool end, as well, regardless of species.

Buy a good thermometer, Sweetie.  Your snakes will live a long time, and it's a good investment.

I hope this has been of help, and good luck.

Answer 2

Many people use newspaper as substrate.  As long as the lamp is at the top of the enclosure there should be no problem.  You can monitor the temperature at the bottom of the enclosure with a thermometer to see how hot it is by the newspaper.  You should be doing this anyway to check that the temperatures are at the right setting for the snake.  

Answer 3

only if the lamp falls on to the newspaper, but if you keep it at the top of the tank it is not a problem