Is anyone using heat tape? My Jackson's likes to bask under the UV thinking that he is going to get warm (he doesn't). I am thinking about wrapping the fake branch that he lounges on with heat tape. That way on cold days I can give him some heat.

If you are using tape, what brand?

I wouldnt...crickets could chew on it and possibly create a short and then you have water introduced.

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Do you like to burn your feet on the hot sand at the beach? What would it be like if you couldnt find a shodow to stand in.

Just move the heat lamp closer to the UV, he he starts basking less than he was probably already regulating his temperature and deemed the UV light to give off sufficient heat.

Not to mention, heat tap and spray water... don't mix. If anything you would use heat rope, but still wouldn't want to use it.

You don't have evidence for either conclusion. Crickets will chew anything, but PVC is one substance that they can't get a bite of and that is what heat tapes are made of. Then again, I wouldn't leave a live cricket in with a cham long enough to chew a wire such that it shorted.

This reply is so inane that I will not enter into a discussion here. Please read the original post.

Don't ask for advice if you are going to attack the answers...and yes it would be silly to heat up their feet since this is not the way its done in nature.

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I use a light timer to turn on the basking light 3 hrs before the uv, works very well. Or use a mercy vapor bulb.

I did not ask for advice. Please learn to read a post as it is written. To help you out, I asked:

Is anyone using heat tape?
If you are using tape, what brand?

What part of those questions did you mistake for someone asking for advice. I am always bemused by self-righteous pseudo-experts jumping in to help the 'noob'. Well, I may be new to this board, but I am certainly not new to chams.

I have avoided a basking light for two reasons: 1) Chams are a bit different from "heat lizards" (for lack of a better term) in that they tend not to need the same amount of warmth and 2) great fear of burns and/or fire.

It sounds like you have a good setup, but I am really looking for a bulb alternative. As an aside, a herp lover (and sales associate) at the local PetCo told me that he saw a heated branch on the web and that it was quite new, which is sort of what I am wanting to replicate.

Chameleons need light to warm themselves. I dont think a heated limb will work because the heat is only on there feet. Even if it did it would take a lot longer for them warm up. A 60w bulb in a quality dome fixture is plenty for a basking light.