gecko acting different just a quetion

grboxa

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Mississauga
i have a cave ontop of the UTH. the cave temps range from 88-95 and never go past 95 with an avg of 93 for the hottest side.. she always use to sleep in the cave but couple days ago shes constantly been on the log and more-so ontop of the cave rather then the usual inside her cave...is this an indication the cave is to hot?...or thats jsut what she prefers? shes ALWAYS ontop of the cave..i notice she goes straight to the cave right after she eats for about 20 min then goes right ontop of the cave...the funy thing is survace temp where she layed inside the cave is the same as ontop...the temperatures never changed so im starting to think she picked that spot now....theres always a gradient inside her cave and shes able to use it because shes still small..so she has the option to pick a cooler side in the hot cave if she gets hot....last couple of days shes been awake and alert far more then usual...shes been doing alot of 'exploring' and im just thinking she came across that spot and loves it...im not worried...im sure its normal just wanted to shoot it out here :)
 

reps4life

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656
My leo will not stay in the hot side hide if it is over 90. He will never sleep outside his hide. My guess is it's too hot underneath the hide. Either move the hide over to an area close instead of on top of the UTH or bring the the temp down a bit to see if she starts sleeping inside.
 

LZRDGRL

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Southern Illinois
What kind of cave do you have? Just in case you have the expensive 3-in-one that you can buy at PETCO, don't put it directly over the UTH, because they can crack! I had two of them crack, and they are quite costly and look nice, so now I either use plastic/ tupper ware on the hot side, or put the good caves on the cool side.

Chrissy
 

grboxa

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689
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Mississauga
My leo will not stay in the hot side hide if it is over 90. He will never sleep outside his hide. My guess is it's too hot underneath the hide. Either move the hide over to an area close instead of on top of the UTH or bring the the temp down a bit to see if she starts sleeping inside.

hey thanks for the reply..and i would of guessed the same..the only thing is the surface temp ontop of the cave is basically the same inside of the cave...she never had a problem with the temperatures before...but i will try ofcourse :).
 

grboxa

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689
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Mississauga
What kind of cave do you have? Just in case you have the expensive 3-in-one that you can buy at PETCO, don't put it directly over the UTH, because they can crack! I had two of them crack, and they are quite costly and look nice, so now I either use plastic/ tupper ware on the hot side, or put the good caves on the cool side.

Chrissy

its just a small exo-terra cave...pretty standard....and i dont have the cave RIGHT over the center of the uth but a bit higher...with one side of the cave that dosent go over the UTH which is the coolest spot of the cave reaching 88-90f(never over) which has me thinking why if shes to hot she dosent just lay on the cooler side...like i said shes still small so shes able to use the gradient in the cave...ive seen her do it so it makes me wonder if its just her new spot...thank you for the reply
 
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reps4life

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I guess it feels alot more stuffy under the hide. My leo would go in for a minute and run back to the cold side. I began to notice his poop started to look partially undigested, since he would stay on the cool side. I added another layer of carpet which brought it down to 90 and that fixed the problem. He started spending time in the warm side right after.
 

grboxa

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689
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Mississauga
I guess it feels alot more stuffy under the hide. My leo would go in for a minute and run back to the cold side. I began to notice his poop started to look partially undigested, since he would stay on the cool side. I added another layer of carpet which brought it down to 90 and that fixed the problem. He started spending time in the warm side right after.

you know...u might be on to something there...i only had her for about 3 weeks mabye? mabye a month...but she grew(obviously lol)...i havent weighed her..but she did gain weight i can feel it when handling her...do u think my cave is to small?...i mean she has room to move inside i am certain its not undersized shes still young...could she just be picky?
 

reps4life

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656
If she still has room than no I don't think that's the case. They normally like tight places. My leo has 4 hides and seems to like the smallest one the most. Believe me they will start to show you signs when there's something they are unhappy with. By watching them as much as possible you will begin to learn how to read them. Ex: He is in a 55 gallon so at night since I run the ac I have to cover half the lid but he hates it when I do. He starts climbing on things looking up and acting crazy. Note: He only acts that way when I cover half his house,lol
 

grboxa

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689
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Mississauga
lol thats funny...there very intelligent animals..this is really bothering me now lol because i jsut realized she has been doing the exact same thing at night when my room gets much colder and i notice temp drops and she still goes outside the cave even when the cave reaches 91 on the hottest side and like 87 on the coldest...
 

reps4life

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656
yep, sounds about right. Its like they go into panic. At one point when his cold side reached 84 he was barking (lol) protesting on the glass. The minute I turned the ac on and it cooled down he went right in to sleep. try that, add something to the bottom to lower the temp.
 

reps4life

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656
Hey, I just realized you wrote her cool side was 87? At night her temps should be in the 70s. That would definately cause her to act like a mime on the glass:O
 

grboxa

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689
Location
Mississauga
yep, sounds about right. Its like they go into panic. At one point when his cold side reached 84 he was barking (lol) protesting on the glass. The minute I turned the ac on and it cooled down he went right in to sleep. try that, add something to the bottom to lower the temp.

sorry i was misleading..when i was talking about 87f i meant towards the cave on the warmside....if i lower the temperatures they will dip below 88-85....the hottest point of my cave is usually 93 and isnt constant it usually goes up and down cuz of the thermostat...and the coldest part of my warmhide is 88...thats why i dont think its a heat issue because she has the option of switching sides in the cave...if i lower the temp both sides of the warmhide will dip below 88-87....which from what i read is bad because they cant digest properly...
 

fl_orchidslave

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St. Augustine, FL
I disagree with lower temperatures, for at least several reasons. Having a good temperature gradient allows them to move to a cooler area i they choose. Different times of the year they act different, according to the temperature of the room their enclosures are housed in, which affects the ambient temperature in their cage. If they are kept too cool, their color will dull. They will also be less active. They won't eat as much. If there was to be any heating malfunction, your gecko would get cold rather quickly. Then there's the obvious digestion issues. IMO teetering on the low end of proper temperature recommendations is just not a good idea.

You've had your gecko just 3 weeks. It's going to go thru some changes and display different behaviors as it gets more comfortable in it's new home. Laying out in the open is common once they no longer feel the need to remain hidden. So, long story short, yes you're over-thinking this :)
 

grboxa

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689
Location
Mississauga
I disagree with lower temperatures, for at least several reasons. Having a good temperature gradient allows them to move to a cooler area i they choose. Different times of the year they act different, according to the temperature of the room their enclosures are housed in, which affects the ambient temperature in their cage. If they are kept too cool, their color will dull. They will also be less active. They won't eat as much. If there was to be any heating malfunction, your gecko would get cold rather quickly. Then there's the obvious digestion issues. IMO teetering on the low end of proper temperature recommendations is just not a good idea.

You've had your gecko just 3 weeks. It's going to go thru some changes and display different behaviors as it gets more comfortable in it's new home. Laying out in the open is common once they no longer feel the need to remain hidden. So, long story short, yes you're over-thinking this :)


^ was waiting for someone like you to comment and say that...lol....i agree she probably is just getting comfortable...thank you :).
 

reps4life

New Member
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656
I did not mean the overall temp. I specified under the hide. This is not the first time I hear this and everytime the owner lowered the temp or moved the hide away from the UTH the behavior stopped. I figured it was worth a try since they cannot speak to us.
Definately they should have temp options to chose from.
My leo has 4 hides plus his humid hide. Temps range from 75 to 95. He will never go to the hide that is over 90, but its an option anyway. When I first had him in the smaller tank his only option was over 90 on the hot end and he spend all his time on the cool side and end up with undigested food. Just sharing what I have observed:)
 

grboxa

New Member
Messages
689
Location
Mississauga
I did not mean the overall temp. I specified under the hide. This is not the first time I hear this and everytime the owner lowered the temp or moved the hide away from the UTH the behavior stopped. I figured it was worth a try since they cannot speak to us.
Definately they should have temp options to chose from.
My leo has 4 hides plus his humid hide. Temps range from 75 to 95. He will never go to the hide that is over 90, but its an option anyway. When I first had him in the smaller tank his only option was over 90 on the hot end and he spend all his time on the cool side and end up with undigested food. Just sharing what I have observed:)

i didnt mean overall temp i meant hide temp lol i specified many times the temp is below 90 already in some points of the cave....she has various option to chose from my temps range from 88-93 so again I dont think the heat is a issue...im not going to lower temps anymore as experts told me not to..like orchid^ said as it isnt healthy for them. besides before my thermostat my uth was reaching 95-98 and she was in there alllll the time but i was worried she was gna get burned.
 

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