Temperature advice required

[PMK159]

I am just setting up a tank for my first Leo's and have got confused over temperature.

I have a heatmat with thermostat set to keep the hot hide at 95F but the cold side of the tank is at around 65F. The heat mat is on the bottom of the glass tank and I have no substrate at the moment.

I was wondering if this differenial is OK, as the glass is cold off of the heat mat, or if I need to put a slate or simular substrate in help store the heat and bring the cold side temperature up.

Any advise would be greatly recieved.

 

[PMK159]

Any advice ??

 

[OnlineGeckos]

You don't want to have no substrate, it's not a good idea to let your gecko lay on the glass directly right where the UTH is. They can get severely burned. I recommend tiles but if you don't want to do tiles or can't get them, at least lay a couple layers of paper towels. Either tiles or paper towels are usually the ideal substrate for leopard geckos.

Once you lay the paper towels, test your floor temperature to make sure they are ok. Chances are with paper towels the cool side won't be as cold, which would make it perfect.

Hope that helps