Housing Re-Vamp

[JoeK]

Hello everyone,

I'm the proud new owner of a Leopard Gecko, but I think I have some housing woes. I went to the Pet Shop and spoke to a few of the people there, and took a few days to set-up the tank to have the right temperatures. But, nothing seems to be right based on what I've been reading here on the forums.

I currently have a sand substrate. Which the Pet Store was adamant about, but the generally feeling here is to go with a Slate Tile.

I only have 1 Hide, and its open on both ends. It's actually the same on the pet-store was using. I keep reading that I should have 3, 1 moist, one cool and one warm.

I'm using a heat-lamp as his heat source. The black box on top has two bulbs. One Red Head Halogen, and a 10.0 UVB. The pet store told me to leave the Red Halogen on 24/7/365, but to turn the UVB off at a night. The generally feeling I get here is to get an UTH.

I've been feeding him meal-worms, and I have been coating them in 'Calcium +D3'. But, feeding seems to belong in another thread.

General feeling I get here is;
- Replace Sand with Tile.
- Replace Heat-Lamp with UTH.
- Get more Hides.

Any advice on what I should actually do would be greatly appreciated. I've attached a picture of my current setup.

Thanks!

Edit: The pet store also told me to keep the tank at 80 degrees. But, I read on here to have a warm side at 85~90, and a cool side at 75~80. Are these temps correct?

 

[TwistedTruth]

Get rid of that heat rock.
Cut a hole in a tupperware (or tupperware like thing) and place some damp papertowel (moss if you want) for the moist hide.

Otherwise your changes sound good. To get him off sand immediately, lay down papertowel until you get the slate tile.
A UTH will be much more beneficial.
Another hide, a moist hide.

And you should be good to go! I'm sure others will have more advice for you.

 

[Cesar_Da_KIng]

Yes get that heat rock the HELL out of there! my friends bearded dragon died from burns he got on one of those, even after i kept warning him.

 

[justinadavid1104]

heat rocks are a big nono.
get rid of the sand it can cause impaction.
that hide is way to big for your gecko or even an adult leopard, they need to feel enclosed when they go to hide, that hide is too open and bright
i would get a uth.
put a hide on the warm side and one on the cool, also a humid hide in the half on the heat pad.
you can switch to papertowels for now just to get him/her off the sand before getting the slate tile, i acually prefer paper towel because it gives them some traction on the ground

 

[JoeK]

Right. I'll defiantly get rid of the heat rock then.

How should I place the tile in the tank? Is it safe to use grout?
It there anyway to regulate the heat from the UTH?

The Pet Store was very adamant about the UVB, but no one on the forum mentions, or even appears to use one. What gives?

 

[ZombiGecko]

For theheat pad, you can get a light dimmer from home depot to control temps. Also(if you dont already have one) i would get a digital thermometer with a probe and place the probe over the heat pad. That way you can see what the temps are

-Amber

 

[ZombiGecko]

Also leopard geckos do not need the uv light. Pet stores 99.9% of the time give bad info about care :/

-Amber

 

[Taquiq]

I currently have a sand substrate. Which the Pet Store was adamant about, but the generally feeling here is to go with a Slate Tile.

Yes, you should get rid of the sand as soon as you can and switch to slate tile , paper towels, or another recommended substrate.

I only have 1 Hide, and its open on both ends. It's actually the same on the pet-store was using. I keep reading that I should have 3, 1 moist, one cool and one warm.

You should have two, one on each side so your gecko can feel protected and get the thermoregulation he needs. If he's going into shed, you can replace the warm hide with a moist hide using sphagnum moss, etc.

I'm using a heat-lamp as his heat source. The black box on top has two bulbs. One Red Head Halogen, and a 10.0 UVB. The pet store told me to leave the Red Halogen on 24/7/365, but to turn the UVB off at a night. The generally feeling I get here is to get an UTH.

Also correct. A UTH provides belly heat which is necessary in digestion. Unless you live in a really cold climate, I would get a UTH and lose the heat lamp altogether.

I've been feeding him meal-worms, and I have been coating them in 'Calcium +D3'. But, feeding seems to belong in another thread.

This is fine just don't coat EVERY single feeding time. It also helps to have calcium without d3 in the tank.

General feeling I get here is;
- Replace Sand with Tile.
- Replace Heat-Lamp with UTH.
- Get more Hides.

Exactly!

Edit: The pet store also told me to keep the tank at 80 degrees. But, I read on here to have a warm side at 85~90, and a cool side at 75~80. Are these temps correct?

The warm side should be anywhere from 88-97, cool side 70-80. Leos body temps are about 86* so they need a warmer/cooler place to heat up/cool down.


Hoped this helped!

 

[JoeK]

I went to my local hardware store and bought some slate tile and cut it to match my tank. Good bye sand!

I also replaced the heat lamp with an ExoTerra HeatWave Desert Undertank Heater. 8w, 8"x8".

However, I don't think my temps are working out very well.
Warm side is sitting at about 80 degrees. The cool side is sitting at about 70 degrees.

Ideally those temps should be about 10 degrees higher on both ends. Should they not?

Not sure what I should do, any suggestions?

 

[GeckoCrossing]

What are you measuring the temps with? In the first picture, it looks like a stick on thermometer. For an accurate temperature reading you need a probe or infrared thermometer.

 

[Cesar_Da_KIng]

How hot is it on THE HEAT PAD, because my tank on the hot side is only about 82'F but over the heat pad at ground level its 94'F so it all depends on where and how high. (i also keep my hot hide over my heat pad so he has darkness and heat)

 

[Cesar_Da_KIng]

If that dosen't work it might be beacuase the tiles to thick or it hasn't had enough time to warm up, idont know because i dont use tile, i use paper towels, so you might want to switch to pt if it dosent heat up. If you dont want to put in paper towels cause it looks trashy or because you want the terrarium to look natural like mine, i use these 100% recyled paper towels you can find in any store that are brown in color and look a lot like dessert sand. That is what i use because i have a very natural looking terrarium.

 

[Russellm0704]

Its because they are measuring the air temp and not the surface temp. Get a probe thermometer and measure the surface temp over the hot side of the tank. Great Job on making all the changes!

 

[JoeK]

I'm using a digital probe thermometer to measure the temperature on the surface of the tile.

The cool side isn't reviving any heating, as 70 degrees is approximately room temperature.

To try and remedy the problem, I purchased a larger heat pad. But, it doesn't fit. Little too large for my current tank.

I'm debating buying a larger tank now, and a larger UTH. But, I'm concerned that I'll be back in the same boat, aha.

Do all the heat pads have similar outputs? The larger pads have higher Watts, but I'm assuming that's because its a larger area, not that it outputs more heat? And.. The Pad should cover approximately 1/3 of the tank?