Really Scary Lighting Incident

[reflectedgray]

Hello,

I kind of just needed a place to talk this out, because it scared the bejezzes out of me. Any advise would be helpful as well.

I have had a Russian tortoise for five years. She lives in a tortoise box on the floor with lighting attached to the box. I have NEVER had a problem before, but when I came home today my entire apartment was filled to the brim with smoke. Not one of my four smoke detectors went off, even though I checked them a few months back. The dog was hysterically barking.

I ran to the kitchen and nothing was there, then i ran into the back room and found my tortoise lamp face down on the carpet, burning a massive hole all the way through to interior of the floor. Somehow the part that connected the light to the stand popped off. It wasnt even near the enclosure, I am super confused how it happened. I turned it on a few hours earlier and everything was fine.

I could have burned down the entire building. My dog and tortoise are very lucky to be alive, im surprised the smoke alone didn't kill them. I live on the site where my boyfriend works, and he would have been fired FOR SURE.

I don't even know how to tell his boss about the carpet, which I clearly will pay to replace. I am afraid to turn the lights back on now.

How do you guys keep your lights safe? Mine was hanging from a stand, and i REALLY thought it was secure. Is anyone else concerned about the fire hazard in this that I did not fully comprehend until now?

 

[laney]

Double secure it with what ever you have handy cable ties, a piece of chain etc. it is scary I know, I'm super paranoid about lights as I live in a high rise apartment. I laid a basking lamp on the floor turned on for 5-10 seconds max until i adjusted it and it melted a hole right through my carpet.
I'm glad your pets and home were ok x

 

[wellington]

I am so happy things didn't get worse. I am surprised that some how the stand failed. The lesson here is probably to check all things holding these hot fire hazard lights often. Checking to make sure all screws, nuts and or bolts are tight. As for me, I hang mine from a large hook in the ceiling and I use rope to tie onto the metal hook that usually comes with the lights.
I had a similar incident. I was very lucky this weekend. Just before I left on Saturday A.M. To go out of state until Monday, I had move a MVB out of my way and set it on top of my leopards wooden hide. I left and forgot to put it back into its hanging position. It's on a timer, so it was off at the time. It comes on every morning for two hours. Got home today to find it the way I had left it and a burn mark under it. I don't know how it didn't set a fire. I will never do that again.

 

[guille24]

Same thing happen to me last year :/ thank god my mom was home and took my tortoises out of my room and extinguished the fire now I'm taking precautions before I go out I always turn the lights off if nobody is going to be home to keep an eye on my tortoises and I put a large metal cover kind of like chicken wire to prevent the lamp from falling all the way down , also under the heat lamp I put some rocks in case the metal cover don't work the heat lamp breaks right away when it falls

 

[diaboliqueturtle]

Oh my gosh, how terrifying! Soooo glad everyone is ok!
Something similar happened to me a few months ago. I used the double-sided tape that came with my exo-terra stand. It was temporary, until I finished the lid and then I was to line the stand with the hole in the lid and screw it to the wall. Well, the 10+ layers of paint peeled off the wall and the lamp fell straight down into the enclosure. I had walked into the living room literally 5 seconds before so I ran and got it right away. My Princesse was ALWAYS in her basking spot in the morning and for some lucky unknown reason, she wasn't there that morning. I still shudder at what could've happened. Luckiest of all was probably the fact that I had lost my job and I was home to save her.

 

[TortyTom]

Sure glad everything is OK. Just remember if something can go wrong, it will. Just rig it up so that a 4 year old child can't knock it over and you'll be good to go. Haha!

 

[Tom]

I had a few close calls too and this is why I now hang them from over head by the cord. They can't be set on anything or moved, and they cant fall because they are attached.

reflectedgray, might your dog have somehow bumped it?

 

[bigred]

This has always been a huge concern of mine because I have cats and a dog. I drill holes in mine and put a nuts and bolts in them to keep them from moving. Glad everyone is ok

 

[LisaTurtle]

Glad everyone is ok! This thread made me reevaluate my lamp set up and make it more secure (added some zip ties to make sure nothing can move). Thank you for sharing your story.

 

[Ilovetorts123]

This is how my dad and uncle set up mine for safety of the light
So you know those black wirey tag that come to secure toys and dolls, one of those is a back up but it's just a loop around a nail
How was yours secured?