Temp of moist hide

My moist hide is on the warm side of my Gecko's enclosure. We keep the warm side surface temp around 92 degrees. Inside the moist hide the surface temp of the eco earth is only 85°. I have a temp gun and check surface temp daily, but today is the first time I checked the moist hide. She spends ALL of her time in the moist hide. Is that normal/acceptable for a moist hide temp? If I bump up surface temps, it will exceed the safe range in other areas of the enclosure.

We have had our Gecko for two weeks tomorrow. She seems ok other than not eating. She could be ovulating (per note stuck in container from breeder), it appears that she may shed soon and I'm sure she is stressed. All will affect her appetite. I just don't want temp to be the cause.

Thoughts?

Nah, I would leave the temps alone. If she wants to be warmer, she'll just go to the warm hide. Most of my geckos spend all of their time in the moist hide.

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't too concerned, but don't want poor husbandry skills to cause problems that can be avoided. At the moment we have a food bowl with about 30 mealworms directly in front of the opening to the moist hide. John Scarbrough of Gecko Boa advises to leave them there for one day, remove for 2 days and repeat until you see evidence the gecko is eating. That's where we are now. Until this critter settles in, I'm going to be a bit nervous I'm doing something wrong.

It sounds like your temps are good and everything, so I think you'll be fine. John Scarbrough is an excellent breeder and his geckos are always very healthy. If he said that your gecko is ovulating, than she may not eat for quite a while. I've had females lose decent amounts of weight during ovulation but they always recover. I've also had newly purchased geckos take up to a month to start eating.

Just keep an eye on her weight and try to bother her as little as you possibly can.

Do you weigh your gecko with a scale? How often? I have considered making a log sheet to record weights, but since we haven't really done more than let her see our hands and lick them I'm not sure what the best way to do that would be. She doesn't appear any different than when she arrived, but that is not hard evidence that her weight has not changed. I'll do my best to remain calm.

Over the summer my daughter got her her first gecko at a pet store. I was not with her when she bought the juvenile leo and wish I had been. She was staying with her father over the summer. By the time I saw the poor thing, I knew we were in trouble. The Leo died shortly after she came back home to stay with me. I do not want a repeat of that experience. There was a very sad kid at my house for quite a while.

The Leo we got from Gecko Boa was born in May of 2016 and weighed 56 grams when he last weighed her in December. She is a great size and looks really healthy.

Yes, I do have a gram scale to weigh my geckos. I used to be keep a log sheet, but I simply don't have time anymore. I have 24 geckos right now and am a full-time student, so feeding and cleaning just took priority over keeping weight logs. I usually just go by body condition. If the tail is thicker than the base and the gecko looks active, bright, healthy, no stuck shed, etc, than I am usually pretty content with its health. I expect my females to ovulate around this time of year, so I'm usually not too bothered when eating grinds to a halt. I know some of my geckos are susceptible to weight loss more than others, and I expect that too. I have one that is below what I consider good, but she does this every year and recovers easily when she starts eating again. Each gecko is really individual. If your husbandry is good and your gecko appears healthy (not lethargic, etc) than all is well, generally.

Keeping a weight log is certainly not a bad idea, though. It's a great way to keep track of the health of your animal and is more reliable than just looking at body condition.

Pet store geckos can often be sad cases. A lot of them come from whole sale and are already very sick when you buy them. Some are just not given a great start and it can be hard to recover. You won't need to worry about that with the one you purchased.

If you ever feel very concerned, you can always contact John at Geckoboa. He's been very supportive in the past about questions I've had about geckos I purchased.

I keep a log sheet of my geckos' weights. I try to weigh babies once a month or so and the adults once every 6 months to a year unless they're looking a bit different. My moist hides are in the mid-80s. I don't worry about the temp in them as long as its not too hot.

I weighed my gecko the other day, just to start a record. She's 61 g. which is 5 g heavier than she was on Dec 24th.