Advice and Tips for New Leopard Gecko owner

This is my second post here, so I hope I am in the right forum. I have had two leopard geckos for about 10 days now. I have previous experience with reptiles, but never with geckos. I have been reading a couple of different care sheets and forums every day, and I am frankly getting a little overwhelmed with the conflicting info. Most advice is the same, but there are enough small differences to confuse me. So basically I am going to describe my set up and you all can tell me what is good/bad and whether I need to adjust anything. Thanks in advance for your time, I know this is a long post.

First let me introduce my geckos...Frodo and ToBeNamed (I'm working on it, I don't like to rush these things...suggestions welcome)

Frodo is about 4-5 inches long and weighs 9 grams, sex is unknown
ToBeNamed is 5.5 inches long and weighs 15 grams, sex is unknown

Housing

They both currently reside in a 40 gallon breeder tank (18x36x16). I understand that I will most likely need to separate them when they get a little older. I will either divide this enclosure, or add a second one soon.

Substrate

Cage carpet. Most of what I heard online was that sand was bad for the little guys.

Heating and Lighting

Gradient from 78-85 with a basking spot of 88-92 degrees. UTH provides the majority of the heat. A low wattage red bulb provides the basking spot. Temps are pretty consistent day and night. No UV at this time. I have a low wattage day bulb for 12 hours each day. It does not affect heating.


Furnishings

Being that these guys are small and have a big tank, I over-furnished. I have to look for a while to even find them. They have a rock-hide/water-bowl combo, a bamboo hut hide, a natural mopari wood log with room to hide underneath, several smaller driftwood branches, lots of artificial greenery. The greenery and driftwood are arranged so that they also make good hiding places. All the wood is firmly on the ground, so no risk of accidents.

Humidity

This is tricky for me. My tank has a screen top, so a lot of humidity escapes. I have also read a lot of conflicting info on this. The major pet store care sheets offer completely different advice and online sources are varied too.

Right now, I can easily maintain about 15%. I provide a moist hide at all times. At least once daily, I mist everything lightly which raises the humidity to 50% for about 2 hours, then it slowly goes back to 15%.

Feeding
I keep a small cap of Fluker's phosphorous free calcium with D3 in the tank at all times. I am feeding 5-6 crickets per day for each gecko. They are 2 week old crickets and range from 3/8" to 5/8". I also hand feed worms to make sure they both get a good meal. I fed mealworms the first 10 days and am trying phoenix worms now. In addition to the crickets, they get a couple of worms each per day. All are gut loaded at the store where I buy them, then I continue gut loading till they become food. I dust everything with the same calcium everyday except Sunday. On that day, I dust with repti-vite. Three small water bowls are in the tank. One is under the heat light to help raise humidity, and the other 2 are really shallow (1/2").

General

I am not handling much yet, just letting them get used to their new home. I do put worms in the flat of my hand and let them come grab them. This is purely an effort to get them used to me. They are both active around feeding time, with lots of roaming around the tank. Good poops and urates, which are removed from tank daily. Both have had a successful shed since I got them. No retained shed for either one, which makes me very happy.

Well, that's it. Am I missing anything? Am I messing up anywhere? Advice welcome, but please be gentle...

1) Don't worry about humidity. Most leo people don't even monitor it. These guys come from the semi-deserts/arid grasslands of the Middle East, so humidity isn't something they're really interested in. As long as you provide a humid hide, you're fine. (You can still spray if it makes you feel better, but don't worry about it being low most of the time.)
2) There's two sides to cage carpet - make sure to flip it so that the side with the fibers sticking out is down. Leos, particularly young ones, have been known to get their fingers or even teeth stuck in it.
3) Out of curiosity, what do the directions for the Reptivite say? I looked it up online and it said use 2-3 days a week, but it could be a different one than what you have.
4) I'd ditch the red bulb if I were you. Contrary to popular belief, leos can see it (very well, actually), and it's not a natural color light for them to encounter. If you ever use it at night, this will definitely decrease their nighttime activity, as they will hide to avoid the light. I'd suggest switching to a basking bulb or a CHE.

And just make sure to have them sexed as soon as they're old enough so you can separate them early if necessary. Sounds like you're doing a good job.

~Maggot

OK, thanks for looking. I never knew that about cage carpet. Mine is facing that way now and I will make sure it stays that way.

My Reptivite says to dust once a week on the bottle, but it does say 2-3 times a week on the website???? The bottle looks the same. Different formulation perhaps? What vitamin brand do you use, if any? Mine also says to dust 12 crickets per 70 grams, which one be about one cricket a week at their current body size.

OK on the infrared light. It was a leftover from my Red Tail Boa enclosure. I will probably look a lower wattage CHE.

Also, other than the humidity the biggest thing I was worried about was feed too much/ too little. Does that amount sound about right? Just out of curiosity, how much do you feed your adult leos and what kinds of bugs/worms?

I'd just do whatever the bottle says then. I use this: T-Rex Leopard Gecko Calcium Plus Supplement Reptile Food Supplements It's to use every feeding, so I've never had to worry about using something certain days or whatever. Dusting one cricket a week doesn't sound right. =/ How much does your leo weigh?

I'd be willing to bet you'll see a lot more nighttime activity if you switch to a CHE.

~Maggot

Take the calcium with D3 out of the tank and replace it with calcium without d3. Leos can overdose on d3 if left in the tank. Also stop misting, it's not required for a leopard gecko. Having a humid hide is sufficient.

IMO Ditch all of your supplements and go with Repashy calcium Plus, you dust with it EVERY feeding and it has everything in it your leos need, and you don't have to worry about a schedule because you use it every time.