I use infrared on my balls and carpet with both displaying normal nocturnal activity.
The bulb really has to be screened in some manner if it is inside the habitat to prevent contact burns though.
I set mine up outside of the terrarium and raised them to get the local temps I needed.
I do check for hotspots being generated by bulbs or CHE's with a temp-gun just to verify that a rock or hide isn't going to burn any of my animals.