Glossary · ☀️ Heat & UVB
Basking spot
The basking spot is the warmest surface directly under the heat lamp, where a reptile positions itself to warm up, digest, and (with UVB overhead) get its ultraviolet.
It needs to hit the species' specific target surface temperature, measured with a probe or infrared thermometer — not guessed. The rest of the enclosure then cools away from it to form the thermal gradient.