First time owner: low temps

[fcap86]

Hello All, I've recently purchased my first leopard gecko and im having trouble keeping my Temps up. When I first got my gecko i had done some reading on other sites and watched some videos on youtube and alot of people were saying that a regular household light bulb would be enough to heat my leo. I was using a 75 watt bulb and the air temps were in the low 90s which i figured to be adequate. Then I found this site an quickly bought a micro UTH just so there would be a hot spot for some belly warmth. The air temps went up to the high 90's and my leo would only go near his warm hide for a few min. then scurry into his moist hide to cool down. I went out and bought a 60watt day bulb at the pet store hoping it would balance everything out, it did not. my leo stopped eating completely and will not leave his hot spot. The air temps were in the mid 80's so i switched back to the 75 household bulb but the temps did not rise. i then went out and bought a 75watt infrared heating bulb but that did not raise the air temps any more then the low wattage day bulb.

Currently i do not have the money for an expensive thermometer probe. Im using a reptile carpet and I've noticed that heat does not transfer very well through it. If i feel the carpet over the UTH it is slightly warm to the touch, no warmer then say my arm pit. But if i lift the carpet it is almost hot to the touch. Is there any safe substrate that will transfer some if this heat?

I live in San Diego so it's not like im in some frigid climate where i should have a problem keeping desert conditions. The tank is a 10gal. i have a 5gal. UTH on the warm side directly under the largest hide. and a 75 watt red heating bulb directly above that. I have one of those sticker thermometers directly behind all of this and today when i got home it only read about 84.

I made the switch to the low watt bulb and UTH about a week ago around that time i found a regurgitated mealie, my leo has not come out of the warm hide or eaten since.

Please if anyone has any advice it would be appreciated! I know this is a long post i hope someone will take the time to read it. THANK YOU

 

[Bellalee]

I bought my thermometer probe for I think, 8 bucks at *****.. I

And I have a feeling your UTH is way too small. I found that the UTH in my 10 gallon is small and does warm it up some and it's made for the 10 gallon.. and I cover my tanks with towels to keep the heat in.

 

[Fallupinreverse]

You definitely need to look into getting a thermometer with a probe. I found this out the hard way with my king snakes. If you are having air temps of around 90 degrees then your surface temps (the temps that truly matter to your gecko, mind you!) are sky high.

I agree with the post above me, your UTH is way too small. Your best bet would be to go out and get a thermometer probe and a UTH for a 10 gallon. Then once you have those, you can choose between a lamp dimmer or some sort of thermostat (Most likely a lamp dimmer, since thermostats are usually pretty expensive, and you can get a lamp dimmer for around $10 at wal-mart or home depot.) It is very important to get some sort of dimmer for your UTH because they can get very hot. Once you have the thermometer and the dimmer you can adjust the dimmer until you are getting the temperature range that you're looking for.

I hope that helps, and I hope it was all good information! Good luck with your Leo, I'm sure you will work things out

 

[Wreptile]

Slate transfers heat very well.

 

[fcap86]

thanks for the advice! I will definitely buy a probe today. Is it even necessary to monitor the air temps then?

Also, I thought the point of the UTH was for a hotspot. If i go with the 10gal one will it raise the temps or just the size of the hotspot? Could i get by on a small UTH combined with a heating bulb?

 

[Fallupinreverse]

It really isn't necessary to monitor air temps for a Leo. Especially if you don't have say a 2nd level to your tank or anything fancy like that. Your Leo is on the surface, and as such surface temps are what matter most .

The point of a UTH is for a temperature gradient, to give a hot zone and a cool zone. From everything I've read Leo's thrive on belly heat, so you would be better off with the 10 gallon UTH. Someone could come in and correct me and say that a 5 gallon UTH and a bulb would be ok, but I think that you'd be far better off with the 10 gallon.

 

[IonBaller07]

Just get a real thermometer and you will probably see a HUGE difference in temps, I had a stick thermometer and it said my temps were in the 70's then I got an $8 digital thermometer and it turns out it was in the low 90's

 

[Neill]

Another cheap trick to get air temps up into the 80s is tin foil over 2/3s of the cage top. I have a very drafty apartment, and so my temps are a little more constant and higher with tin foil over the tops of the cages.

 

[fcap86]

OK, so i upgraded to a 10gal UTH and did find a nice probe thermometer for 7 bucks (on sale, yeah!) i ditched the heating bulb and my temps are right in mid-high 90's in the hottest part. Thanks for everyones advice! Hopefully my little guy will start eating again.

 

[Fallupinreverse]

It definitely sound like you're on the right track! Glad to hear you're getting things sorted out. Good luck!