Leo questions

[CallDr]

If your ambient ( or room temps ) are in the 70's, there is no need for a heat lamp. You can go to Target and get a lamp to sit on the screen top for viewing ( 5.99 ) ... at night. ( or a cheap clamp on ) See pic on my tank I posted for you. Blue bulbs are harder to see with a low wattage. A 40w Red is fine. They even have a Red bulb at lowes.

 

[bman123]

I don't want him to get too cold, that's why I was considering a red heat bulb for him. He has been a good boy so I'm gonna look at some tile for him today..
Room temps are 76-78 i don't see how his temps could be lower then the room temp.

 

[CallDr]

I don't want him to get too cold, that's why I was considering a red heat bulb for him. He has been a good boy so I'm gonna look at some tile for him today..
Room temps are 76-78 i don't see how his temps could be lower then the room temp.

you can raise the air temp inside the tank by using Peg Board from lowes... cut to fit top of tank. It will also act as a light diffuser as not too bright.

Cold is in the mid 60's....... 70's are fine and they will adjust to your Changing environment....... just give them time to adjust. The UTH is what you need to set up and keep a watch on. Move the Hot hide a little off being directly on top of the UTH. You will see when he likes where it is.

 

[bman123]

Yeah I put something on top of it last night actually and it held temp fine. The outside temps went from 70-40 where I live so that's making a difference on the temp inside the house. Still waiting on this dumb check in the mail so I can flip this gecko house lol..

 

[bman123]

Hopefully i get this check today so I can get his tile, some play sand, styrofoam, sealer and paint. I want to put a new level in his tank so there is more ground space. So if I want a female to pair him with later there will be alot of room.

I got a few ideas of what to do but I just gotta make it happen. At least I can tile his tank soon. It will be awhile before I get working on that other level..

 

[CallDr]

They will adjust to your home environment...... changing room temps. Just give time. As long as you have the UTH where they can warm up...... you should not worry about it. Geckos Thermoregulate....... so they will adjust. It's better IMHO to have a changing environment as they do in the wild. Having your temps to Spec Sheets is a clinical environment, which means once that changes..... they react quicker. Having a fluctuating range in your home and tank....... in the long run, will be less of an issue. They will adapt as long as you are in the range form low to high.

 

[CallDr]

Hopefully i get this check today so I can get his tile, some play sand, styrofoam, sealer and paint. I want to put a new level in his tank so there is more ground space. So if I want a female to pair him with later there will be alot of room.

I got a few ideas of what to do but I just gotta make it happen. At least I can tile his tank soon. It will be awhile before I get working on that other level..

Changing your tank around is OK , as long as you know it will take time for them to get used to "their home". Once you have it the way you ( and he ) likes it...... give it at least a week so it's Home to your gecko.

 

[bman123]

Well here's another question lol. The castle he has that is great for helping him shed. He tried to climb thru it 3 times and he is to big so he got stuck each time. I took it out for a little bit to ask you guys about it.

Do you think I should leave it in there and he will learn not to try to go thru it or not risk him maybe hurting himself by getting stuck? I like it because it's rough so it helps him shed, it's a decoration and he normally climbs on it and hides behind it. What do you think I should do with this??

I won't be able to tile his tank until Monday at the earliest probably. I might not have the money for the tile until Monday lol. He is coming out alot more now too. I just don't like the newspaper. I wanted to do tile to start with, but I didn't have the info I needed.

 

[bman123]

I will do the tile first but that may be a couple days. The styrofoam stuff will be a month or so if i even do it. I'm doing the tile for sure I don't know about the styrofoam.

 

[Lpac]

I just worry about the crickets dying fast since I have to keep them in the fridge.

dont put them in the fridge -_-

 

[bman123]

They stay alive better in the fridge for me, I keep them and the superworms in the fridge. It doesn't take long for them to become active again, but it doesn't matter since my Leo is lazy and won't hunt his food.

 

[bman123]

What would you guys do about his castle? I haven't put it back in since I took it out earlier. I have no clue why but he was determined to squeeze thru the hole in it. He got stuck every time and kept trying. So I took it out so he wouldn't hurt himself.

Do you think I should leave it out? His tank looks bare now. All he has is two hides, a calcium dish and a water bowl in there now. I don't understand why he is so hard headed like me. He really wanted to squeeze thru that hole but he just can't fit thru it.

I don't have enough cash to get him a different decoration for inside since they are expensive. What would you do?

 

[bman123]

Oh I been meaning to ask this but I forgot. What do you have to do to use real wood for decoration? I have a huge set of woods behind my house and bet I could find something cool for his tank if I looked. I am sure I need to wash it then bake it in the oven but I don't know what temp and for how long.

I am hoping to find something like they sell in the store that cost $20 but for free lol. It would be cool to find him a natural hide and maybe something he can climb on and hide behind or under. I am sure I can find something I just gotta get out the house to do it. It's only 40 degrees out today so I may wait a day or two until it warms up before I go in the woods.

 

[stephane110]

You may not notice problems keeping crickets in the fridge short term, but after a couple days they will die off. And crix are expensive

 

[STUTFL]

Yeah, cold isn't good for crix. But if you're not using them anymore it shouldn't matter.
Still, don't keep supers in the fridge. I imagine it's more likely to shorten their lifespan than lengthen it. Supers aren't that cheap either, and they don't die off en masse at room temp anyhow.

I, uh ... I'd be cautious about wood in the oven. Wood starts on fire. O_O
I usually let stuff bake in the sun on the balcony for a few days in the summer, gets wicked hot ... never tried natural wood gathered in the cold yet. Rocks are easy enough to clean, got any rocks? Flat ones can make a nice hide, if they're stable and you've got some good glue in case your leo decides to "rearrange" it by force. :laugh: If he insists on getting stuck in his current hide, like *really* stuck, I guess you'll want to replace it.

 

[STUTFL]

He'll do alright with mid-70s on the cool side ... if he feels too cool the hot side's in the 90's, he can just move closer to that. It is definitely possible to keep the tank *too* hot, and that causes problems all its own.

 

[CallDr]

What would you guys do about his castle? I haven't put it back in since I took it out earlier. I have no clue why but he was determined to squeeze thru the hole in it. He got stuck every time and kept trying. So I took it out so he wouldn't hurt himself.

I think you answered your own question. If he is getting stuck...... take it out.

 

[bman123]

Yeah i took it out and i think he is mad about it. He keeps coming out and going to where it was and he looks at me then pushed his hide all over the tank. He will climb on his hide
It's funny how he acts. He must of had that thing his whole life and now it's gone so I'm sure he may be mad I took it out but I won't let him hurt himself by getting stuck.

 

[bman123]

There is a big set of woods and a huge creek behind the house. I'm sure I can find some rocks, I wanted to use wood tho to replace his castle that I took out. I don't need anymore hides, he's always in his hide anyway.

I gotta find something tho to keep him busy, he use to mess with thatcastle for long periods of time. I think he likes his tank more now tho. He is walking around alot more since i tiled it. He can walk around now, before he just slid around on the newspaper.

 

[bman123]

Ok update on the temps now. My thermo probe does not stick anymore it had double sided tape on it but it got sand on it and it won't stick anymore. I took out all the tiles that are over his uth. I took out alot of sand, I put the tiles back and filled in the cracks again.

I held the probe down on the two tiles where he keeps his hot hide. Temps stayed at 92-95 degrees. I manually held the probe there for about 20 minutes to make sure. It never went over 95 it mostly stayed around 92-93 degrees. His cool side is at 78 now and it's staying that way.

Cool thing i got his temps straightened out. The bad thing is my probe won't stick anymore so it is wedged under his hot hide inbetween the hide and the tiles over the uth. When he moves his hide it's gonna move the probe. I don't know what to do about this now.

I guess I can just check it twice a day by holding the probe on the tiles. I'm positive I've got the depth of the sand right now under the tiles above the uth so all is good now lol.
Thanks for all the input. Like i said earlier I will take alot of pics of him and the setup for you guys and I will link it to my photobucket album that way you guys can check it all out.

I'm just glad I got it all figured out and now his tank looks sweet. I shod have pics ready by 2pm tomorrow for you guys and i will post them in my I think he's a raptor thread. Thank you all very much.