I just sold my heat lamps. Is that okay?

[kimiwimi]

Okay. So after reading and hearing that overhead light stresses leopard geckos, I decided to sell both my white and black lights. With the black light, his warm side was around 85 F. Now with just the UTH, it's at about 77.

I'm concerned, and I would love it if someone could clear this up for me: do I need to go back out and buy another light? Or is it just belly heat that counts?
He seems to be a bit sleepier without the light, that's the only change I've noticed. And he doesn't spend nearly as much time in his humid hide. But he's still eating and digesting his food.

I've had my [first] leo for almost two months now. There are so many conflicting ideas about leopard gecko care, I'm probably going to blow this forum up with several of my concerns because I'm honestly paranoid of doing the wrong thing. Thanks so much for the help, in advance!

 

[indyana]

As long as the floor surface temperature is 88-90 F, having the air temperature around 77 F should be okay.

I'm not completely against lighting, but there are some issues people can run into using lamps:
* Light makes it too hot and dry; not enough cool and/or humid refuge spots in the enclosure.
* Not enough dark refuge spots from the light.

If your house gets cold during the winter, you may want to invest in a lamp and ceramic heat emitter combination to keep the temperature from getting too cold. I try to keep my reptiles no cooler than 65 F air temperature.

 

[warhawk]

Just to add to what Indyana has already said.


I feel geckos really do well with a nice day and night cycle. That doesn't mean you need to light for the tank normally just lighting the room is enough to give the gecko this cycle.
I don't use lights for my Geckos but I keep them in the same room as my fish tanks. My fish tanks are all on timers so the room gets fairly bright when everything is on at once. You can see my geckos up and moving around during the day but the light is so bright as to hurt their eyes.

 

[Penelope24]

I don't use lamps either. I just keep the blinds open in her room for natural light. Her tank is situated between the windows so she doesn't get direct light. It helps a lot with her cycle


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