Critique My First Cage

[Stitch]

Remember that they are still wild creatures. The sun produces heat during the day and then everything cools off in the evenings. So only use the heat lamp during day hours, leave the UTH on 24/7/365!

As for the calcium dish ONLY use calcium with out D3. You can dust 1-2 times a week with calcium w/ D3. They can overdose on the D3 if given too much. There is some speculation as to how much sunlight they actually get in the wild and how much D3 they need in their captive diet.

P.S. 20 gallon "long" would be better, but this will work.

 

[Baker14]

Looks like a great tank. Like leoaprdbreeder said, you will want to measure the surface temp. of the substrate, above the UTH. To do this you need a Digital thermometer w/probe. This can be brought from Walmart or online. I use the Acu Rite digital thermometer with probe. It is accurate, has the cool side temp, the probe temp, and a humidity reading as well.

 

[98XJSport]

Let me put it this way: How cold is to cold, and for how long? This time of year, for the next couple months without the light on the surface temp on the cool side will be ~ low 70's. But it should never get lower than high 80's on the hot side with the UTH. If this gets the nod of approval, Ill plan on running the light from ~08:00 until ~20:00, then providing the UTH is always on, it should be ok?

Final pics with the humid hide and a bowl for calcium. Got a cover and clamps as well, didn't think anyone would want to see that I have 2 thermometers with probes, one hot side and one cold, just haven't mounted them yet.

 

[malt_geckos]

Awesome! I love that wood in there!

 

[98XJSport]

Thanks, it would be better in a 20L but I already have this tank and stand from my first fish tank. The only other tank I have is a 55 but no room to put it

 

[Eternal_Rain]

Looks nice!

 

[Baker14]

Well, great job. It looks great! And im glad you researched everything prior to getting a gecko. Im sure s/he will be happy in that awesome home!

 

[98XJSport]

Thanks for the compliments

Now here's the million dollar question...

I have an opportunity to get geckos from a breeder, so I could get a pair of heat sexed females...

Is it big enough? Now and a year from now? Its the year from now Im worried about...

 

[Stitch]

That tank is only suited for one gecko, even a couple of young geckos would be crowded. I feel that a 20 gallon long is only good enough for one adult leo. I house all of mine individually. I tried placing 3 females in a 40 gallon and that didn't even work.

As for the temperature question. It's really the warm end you want to worry about. You want the warm end to be 88-92 degrees.

 

[98XJSport]

I was checking out a pet store gecko yesterday night, and Im definatly going to have to agree, once they are 6+ inches Im not sure Im going to even want one in this cage. Once it is older I will probably split level the tank for more floorspace. Wish I could set up my 55 for a pair, that would work nicely Oh well never know.

EDIT: Note- I do know it's a tank, but all my other critters are in cages, so its a habit.

 

[NickBoudin]

Arent the red lights infa-red? Or something? I thought geckos cannot see the light as far as we know?

I could have sworn I read that somewhere.

 

[98XJSport]

Ive read that, but don't know if it's true...

Ok since I can't leave well enough alone, I did some more work...

A second floor built out of dowels and HDPE, with another piece of driftwood for a ramp.

I haven't decided on placement of dishes, etc and will probably do something for a hide up top, but I don't want it anymore cluttered than it already is. It just needs to last a couple months until I get the bigger tank up here from my girlfriend's parents house.

Tomorrow Im going to start 24 hour temp runs to see how things run with the light on a timer, etc.