Light fixture for my Terrarium

Hi Everyone. I am setting up a habitat with my daughter. We purchased the 36 x 18 x 24" tall Exo Terra Terrarium. I am looking at deep dome lamps to setup his basking light which I will use just for heat as I have a Reptisun 10.0 HO T5 hood. I want to sit the dome on top of the screen which is about 7.5 inches between the screen braces. The only one that will sit just on the screen is the 5.5" dome but it is only rated for a 100 watt bulb. With a 24" tall terrarium, is there a bulb 100 watts or less that will work in that dome that will achieve the temp I need? I plan on getting a branch to raise him about 6" off the floor. Again, just for heat.

If I have to go with a larger deep dome, then I"m looking at a minimum of 8.5 inches which if I place on top of my cage will have the edge of the lamp just sitting on the top braces. Will that be ok or would I have to hang it over the cage on a stand?

Thanks for any help.

You have some options here. If you use a regular flood light bulb you can try a 75 watt. I don't know how well it would fit in a 5.5 dome though. You may want to go with the 8.5" one. You will find that heat can fluctuate if your house temps fluctuate. You are better off with either a lamp stand or a lamp dimmer. I use lamp dimmers but I have wooden enclosures and so a lamp stand is not an option for me. I'm not sure I can picture what you mean on how a dome would sit on top so if you feel it's not secure I would go with the lamp stand. I would make sure though that he has access to uvb at the basking site. So you would want the uvb to be along side of the heat.

Thank you. So what I mean is the screen has braces that divides the top in quarters. The width of one of the sections is 7.5 inches so the 5.5 dome will sit on top. The 8.5 dome is too wide and will sit on the brace itself so worried about melting and thinking I will need a stand. I have. 36" reptisun that spans the entire width of the terrarium but as it is the same width will sit on top of the screen. Will be using 10.0 t5 uvb bulb

Ah yes, I've seen pictures of those so I know what you are talking about now. I honestly don't know if that's made of plastic or metal. Hopefully someone can provide some input on those. You can always see if a bulb will work in the smaller one. Just keep receipts and return if it doesn't work out.

My tank has cross braces like that too. I just removed the top (no other animals in the house) but I also found that putting some foil over the plastic helps shield it from the heat pretty well. Ultimately I moved to adjustable stands to hang the fixtures from which is great because you can change the height to fine tune the temps. That's probably your best bet in the long run.

I think I will go with the lamp stand them be safe. Thanks for the help!