New to leopard geckos and could use some advice

Hello,

I know this is long but could really use some advice. Very appreciated, thank you.

I am new to the leopard gecko hobby. I have bred ball pythons (currently have 27) for 9 years, own a savanna monitor and a couple chameleons. Because of this I am aware of the importance of belly and ambient temperature.

I own a 55" x 24" x 24" top and front opening tank. I do understand this is on the large size but I made a lot of spaces for hides for them.

I made a very large rock formation with polystyrene and coated in a pet/kid friendly rock texture deck coating. It has 7 hides on the warm side that is touching the tile substrate I have for direct belly heat. I have 7 hides on the cool side with misted moss in it. All hides are accessible by lifting a piece of rock formation.

I also have several layers of flat rock surfaces and tunnels.

Right now I have 12" x 24" heat tape controlled by a vivarium electronics VE-300 thermostat. The belly temperature on the warm side is 91 degrees.

My question is the ambient heat. Right now through the whole enclosure is room temperature 70 degrees. With so many layers there is no way to get the heat from heat tape.

Should I be adding an upper heat source? Or is the belly heat on the first level good enough?

It houses 4 female geckos. I will not be adding a male since I do not plan on breeding.

Also, should I stay at 4 geckos? Or do you think I can safely add more in an enclosure that size? I have 4 water bowls and 4 feeder bowls. They have no problem getting their food and fattening up quick.

Thank you for any advice or structural criticism.

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I think your set up sounds good. =)

An additional heat source is not necessary. Ambient temperature isn't too important for leopard geckos unless is it really cold (like below 60 degrees).

If I'm calculating it right, that tank is about 137 gallons. Even with it being 2 feet tall, I believe that's still over 100 gallons of floor space. Technically, you could house quite a few geckos in there. I'm not sure if I would recommend it or not, though. For every gecko you add, the chances of a problem occurring increases. Personally, I think you'll have to do it on a case by case basis. Add one gecko at a time and see how it gets on with the group. There are a few things to take into consideration with that.
1) Not all female geckos get along, and even geckos that do get along at first may stop at any time. You'll need to be prepared to separate any one of them out if there are problems. Besides physical fighting, sometimes one gecko can become the "dominant" animal and passively prevent one or more others from getting at food or properly thermoregulating. With a total of 14 hides (right? Unless I misunderstood), 4 food bowls, and 4 water bowls, I don't really see this becoming a problem, but it is still something to be aware of. With a set up like that, I would make it a point to weigh each gecko every week. This way, you can easily monitor whether or not they are all getting enough food and also use the chance to check them over for any signs of fighting. Since leopard geckos are solitary, disagreements can occur at any time.
2) How many geckos you want to have in there may correlate with how many extra set ups you are prepared to have just in case. When housing multiples, it's a good idea to be prepared to separate them at any time.
3) Unless the geckos you get are already housed together, you'll need to quarantine them all from each other for 1-2 months.

The only thing with the heating will be to make sure there are enough separate spaces with the proper belly heat available. If there's only one or two spaces at the right temperature and some of the geckos do not get along (as above), you might run into problems with their health.

Thank you both for your advice.
Neon that was very informative. I will definitely use your advice. I feel a lot better going into this now

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