help!!!!

[Yamori]

Great replies Matt, you beat me to it I definitely agree, paper towels are the safest bet but if you want a more visually pleasing look then natural slate tiles is a good choice and just as easy to keep clean.

As for the feeders that are still in the enclosure, I would try to remove them as they may bite or stress your gecko out. A bigger tank is definitely the way to go. I myself started out with a tank thats a little on the smaller side and will be buying a bigger glass terrarium in a couple of weeks.

2 hides one on each side of the enclosure is essential, a slightly moist one on the heated side and a cool one on the other so that if it gets too warm in one it can move to the other. Moss is good, i myself have sphagnum moss in my moist hide. you want it to be just slightly moist, not wet.

Where do you get your mealworms from? do you breed them or buy them from a pet store? Breeding them yourself can really keep the cost down and its very convenient.

Looking forward to seeing those pics.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

What is the surface temperature (where the gecko's belly would be) on tha warmst spot on it's enclosure?

 

[Yamori]

Cwazy, thats a good point but lets not forget that the somewhat tough exoskeleton of the mealworm can be difficult to digest. Just because it can doesn't necessarily mean it should. That can avoid that by feeding very small mealworms.

I have witnessed geckos in the wild and their diet mainly consists of moths and spiders or any other small bug that may be around. With moths, i have seen groups of geckos go after them but only ever the small to medium sized ones. Im sure they could eat the bigger ones with ease but they don't. Geckos like most reptile are intelligent. They must know, most likely from past experience that they cant properly digest the bigger insects. well, its getting a little off topic.

Peace-

 

[janie31]

well, I changed back to kitchen towel, and Echo is already MUCH happier, spending more time out and about in tank, eating 2 small-medium crickets twice a day.

All mealies were taken out, all extra crickets taken out. Added a moist hidey hole, with damp kitchen towel and a fine mist spray of water inside.

There is no way I intend keeping echo in this small tank for very long, one i believe in giving all animals plenty of space, and two I know she will outgrow it at some point so may as well get her a bigger tank as soon as I can.

I bought the meal worms, I also bought some crciekts, a kricket keeper tank, and looked up how to breed crickets, so am going down that route with the crickets, hadnt thought about doing that for the meal worms too, but will read up on it. Still a bit grossed out by the teeny tiny worms (or any worm lol)

I have to be honest and say I dont know the temp in there, I jsut bought what was recommended by the pet shop, and they just gave a heat mat and said put it under 1/4 of the tank at one end, with the large hidey hole half on and half off it.

Should I get some sort of thermometer or are there heat pads you can adjust the temp on then?

I really DO appreciate any tips and advice, I dont want to just struggle through not really taking good care of my gecko, I dont do that with my pets, i want to give them the best possible care and life I can, so If I am doing something wrong,or not doing something I should PLEASE tell me and I will go out and buy whatever I need for my gecko. Thats why I joined here, to learn, and I have laready been given mounds of great advice, and have acted on it all, so thanks to everyone already. This is a great supportive forum!!!!

 

[LeapinLizards]

I would definitely get some sort of temperature control device - be it a rheostat, thermostat, or a simple lamp dimmer is even better than nothing, all of which can be found at Home Depot or other stores like that. Pet store heat pads can get well up over 100*F. It's better knowing where it's at, and keeping it in the mid 90s, than having it spike to 110*F whenever it decides to.

 

[janie31]

Thanks Heather, i'll be sure to pop out tomorrow and get something better!

 

[mystikal222]

I wont touch the worms either...soooooo

I use a pair of tweezers to put them in!lol

 

[Ciprion]

Okay so what exactly is the dif between a rheostst and a thermostat?

 

[cwazy]

a rheostst simply acts as a "dimmer" it tones down the amount of electricity flow... there for limiting the amout of energy something will get wich will limit its performance *lower amounts of heat for a heat pad...*

a thermostat completly controlls the heat... shuts the unit off when too hot, and turns it back on when too cold... there for giving you a pretty consistant temp... same idea as in a house... your cold you turn your thermostat up... then just leave it to maintain that temp