My Savannah Monitor

[Pirarucu]

Originally Posted by EmbraceCalamity

I've heard of animals being burned by being too close to bulbs or the basking spot being too hot (eg a heat rock getting too hot).

~Maggot

Being burned on a hot rock is the equivalent of being burned on a bulb, and again as long as the bulb is far enough away, there should be no problem. My brother has an Arabian Blue Uromastyx which climbs up and uses a basking spot of 180 degrees every morning. No burns, just one very active lizard until he retires for the night.
As long as the animal has the option to avoid high temperatures if it wants to, and the elements in the cage are natural ones that the animal's instinct tells it how to respond to, burns will not happen.

[AjaMichelle]

Also, with respect to the CHE, I'm using a CHE to improve the temperature gradient in one of my enclosures and the sav uses both the basking spot created by the CHE as well as the spot created by the incandescent light bulbs. However, he actively basks in the basking spot created by the light bulbs. There's an obvious preference, and I imagine it's because his lit spot is evenly warmer.

I think that flood bulbs would be the best choice because they project heat evenly downward instead of out in all directions like the CHE. They're just easier to work with.

And both of my savannah monitors poop in their water sources despite the humidity being 60% to 80% throughout the enclosure, away from the basking spot.

[infernalis]

temp gun the lizard, the readings are a LOT different.

[Taco]

Alright so I decided to add some stuff to the cage to help hold the humidity in and also give her some more things to hide around. After a day or two now she seems to be more comfortable for sure and at least is always peaking out when I check on her rather then being a foot down in the soil the whole time. Haha anyways thought I would add some pictures.