40gal breeder setup

[JGoslee]

Hi. I'm new to leopard geckos. I have a 40gal breeder that I will be setting up for a trio(1 male and 2 female). I have a strip light with a reptisun 5.0 bulb and I also have a heat lamp and a small under tank heater. I plan on using paper towels for a ground cover and adding a few hiding places. Will this be enough for the geckos? Is there anything else I should be adding to the tank? Thanks for any help.

-Jesse

 

[gaparicio]

Hello and welcome! There are a lot of things you can do with your 40 breeder tank. I would ditch the heat lamp and stick with the under tank heater (UTH) since belly heat is what you should be looking for. You will need some type of thermostat or rheostat to regulate the temperature since UTHs can get pretty hot if you don't have one, especially if you're putting paper towels as your substrate. You don't have to use the 5.0 bulb unless you like it for viewing (I know I do). Any lightbulb will do for that matter.

Just make sure you have enough hides for each gecko and you should be fine. Post some pics when you're done. :main_thumbsup:

 

[TWC]

water dish, calcium dish, feeder dish for mealworms. maybe something to climb on, like a little branch(not from your own yard lol). thermometer and hydrometer. i hope that helps

 

[rhino43grr]

i think usually more than 1 hide per gecko is advised when housing more than one together. you'll also need multiple humid hides--mine is a tupperware container with sphagnum moss that i spray with water periodically to keep moist.
maybe 5 regular hides and 3 or 4 humid hides would be good? i don't really have much experience with housing multiple geckos together though...
the thermostat is the most important thing though in my opinion, best supply i've purchased in my reptile "career" by far.
ceramic tile would be good for substrate (flooring material) just use the search feature at the top of the forums and search for "tile" and you'll find plenty of threads.
you might want to get a bigger UTH also if yours isn't the 30-40 gallon size and i would say multiple food, water and calcium dishes would be advisable as well.

 

[JGoslee]

Thanks for all the help. I have a few more questions. Do I need a water dish, calcium dish and feeder dish for each gecko? Also do I need to separate the male from the females?

 

[rhino43grr]

having one for each might help to make sure one gecko wasn't hogging all the food/water/calcium, but like i said i'm no expert... having the male with the females would pretty much ensure that at some point they'd end up mating i would think.

 

[TWC]

no, i just make sure they are always full. and it would be nice for the ladies to have a break from the male from time to time. but keeping them together should be fine.