Best Way to heat gecko tank

[Bec]

Hey everyone.
i have had my leopard gecko for 2 years and hearing his tank has always been a big problem.
I started with halogen bulbs (the blue one for day and red one for night). He has a 20 gal tank so I used the lower wattage.
but the halogen bulbs always burnt out within a few days and got so expensive. They also made his eyesight bad.

so I switched to a hearing mat that adheres to underneath the tank.
But it constantly would not keep a temperature and I just found this morning it stopped working completely.

I am just at a loss at what is the right or best way to heat his tank because this has been a stressful journey. I’d appreciate any tips or if there is a certain tank set up that’s worked well for you, please let me know!!

me and Leo thank you

 

[acpart]

Check out Zoomed heat cable. It's a rubberized heat cable that you can tape in a sine-wave shaped configuration (instructions about how to do this in the package). Use Nashua tape. It's available at Home Depot and is essentially a sticky backed aluminum foil tape. It's the only thing I've found that doesn't eventually sag. For a 20 gallon tank you probably need the 25' cable (the first 6' isn't heated). The best place to get this is on EBay. You can usually find it for a good price with free or low cost shipping. Be sure to use a thermostat. The Zilla one is pretty affordable.

Aliza

 

[Cássio Júnior]

Hi, I'm new to the hobby and I have a question, what do we put on top of the heating tape/heating cable. When do we place it inside the terrarium?

 

[acpart]

You tape the heat cable under the tank on the outside. There is a variety of "substrate" you can put inside the enclosure on the bottom. My favorite is ceramic tile that I get from a home improvement store. You can also use repti-carpet which is a felted cloth material or even shelf liner or newspaper. You should use a thermostat to regulate the temperature and put the probe on top of the substrate on the warm side.

Aliza

 

[Cássio Júnior]

You tape the heat cable under the tank on the outside. There is a variety of "substrate" you can put inside the enclosure on the bottom. My favorite is ceramic tile that I get from a home improvement store. You can also use repti-carpet which is a felted cloth material or even shelf liner or newspaper. You should use a thermostat to regulate the temperature and put the probe on top of the substrate on the warm side.

Aliza

Thank you very much for the quick response and your attention.

Therefore, if we choose to place the heating cable INSIDE THE CABINET, we can use some ceramic plates to help with heat dissipation and to keep the geckos' feet away from the cables. ?
My terrarium is made of wood.

 

[acpart]

It's nice to have a way to vent the heat. How about it you install it under the outside of the enclosure and then monitor the temperatures to see if it's working.

Aliza