Everything look good so far? New mom here :)

[Marie84]

Hello all,

Hoping that this setup is looking good for my little guy Ryu (his picture is in my avatar.) I opted for a mat substrate (the kind you rinse off and clean once a week) since I read that leopards can make themselves sick eating the substrate sometimes O_O

Here's the picture of his setup. What you can't see is my lighting setup, which I'll describe. I have the nighttime lamp on the left, the daytime lamp on the right and also a UV lamp that I run during the day along with the daytime lamp (the UV lamp spans the entire back of Ryu's terrarium.) He isn't close to shedding his skin yet but I bought the moss in advance that will help him (ExoTerra Forest Moss, which you dampen and put in where he'll hang out most of the day.)

He has crickets in there to eat, a few of which are coated with a calcium supplement. The grey bowl has water in it (in case you can't tell in the photo.)

Everything look OK? Absolutely feel free to chime in with anything else you think is needed! Thanks so much in advance!

 

[Wowoklol]

Looks really nice although you need a thermometer that takes temps on the floor not up in the air. The floor surface in the tank should be low to mid 90s in around 1/3 of the tank. Geckos are a nocturnal species and it pains me to see so much light. They need nowhere near the amount of light as many other lizard species. Many keep these with nothing but natural light. I'm guessing you are using the lamps as the heating source? If so, the substrate is nowhere near warm enough. You will need an Under the Tank Heater if you don't already have one. You also probably want to put a little dish of calcium for the lizard to lap up when he/she sees fit. I personally like feeder bowls. Crickets are a bit hard to contain, but if you end up feeding meal worms or super worms then you want to have a little bowl to put them in which they cannot escape from. Not sure I like that piece of wood stacked up along the back without some sort of brace. The lizard could climb on that and fall, maybe with that thing landing on it. Heavy equipment in your tank can potentially harm your lizard if you aren't careful. Actually, even if you are careful. I use all very lightweight stuff in mine just in case I get ham handed.

 

[Tico]

Nice Setup but i agree With WOWOKLOL about the Under Tank heater .....

 

[panicbess]

UTH is the ONLY way these animals regulate there digestive system. They must have a WARM belly to digest the food they intake. The tank looks great though. They really dont need that much stuff but who am i to say I cramp things in mine to stimulate them also..

 

[Marie84]

Looks really nice although you need a thermometer that takes temps on the floor not up in the air. The floor surface in the tank should be low to mid 90s in around 1/3 of the tank. Geckos are a nocturnal species and it pains me to see so much light. They need nowhere near the amount of light as many other lizard species. Many keep these with nothing but natural light. I'm guessing you are using the lamps as the heating source? If so, the substrate is nowhere near warm enough. You will need an Under the Tank Heater if you don't already have one. You also probably want to put a little dish of calcium for the lizard to lap up when he/she sees fit. I personally like feeder bowls. Crickets are a bit hard to contain, but if you end up feeding meal worms or super worms then you want to have a little bowl to put them in which they cannot escape from. Not sure I like that piece of wood stacked up along the back without some sort of brace. The lizard could climb on that and fall, maybe with that thing landing on it. Heavy equipment in your tank can potentially harm your lizard if you aren't careful. Actually, even if you are careful. I use all very lightweight stuff in mine just in case I get ham handed.

Thanks so much, I'm going to go to and get an under the tank heater immediately, and I moved the wood as well (it seems stable, I was trying to give him more room to roam along the top but you're right, best not to risk him taking a tumble.)

Thanks again!

 

[OnlineGeckos]

Hey I have the same hides, you must have gotten them from petsmart People above gave you great suggestions & advice. Remember the UTH should cover 1/3 of the warm side of your tank, so measure it carefully. Too large it'll make your tank too hot, too small it'll be too cool.

As mentioned above you'll want to buy a digital thermometer with a probe, they are cheap ($7-$10). You don't need a fancy one, don't need the dual thermometer/humidity one, just a standard digital thermometer with a probe. Then lower the probe down to the floor where your leopard geckos lay on. The floor temperature is what you need to know, not the air temperature that these stick on thermometers tell you.

Good luck, and the setup looks good.