Leopard Gecko UVB (I'm stressing myself sick, please help)

[Roul]

Hello!
My leopard gecko's UVB light recently broke, and I've been struggling to find her a new one.
I've read that leos should have at least 75 to 100 watts, but I can't find a good bulb of that wattage, like... Anywhere.
Would it be okay if I bought her a light of a lower wattage and continued to supplement her?
Currently, she is living off of D3 supplementation and plain window light for her day/night cycle. She also has a heat bulb, but that goes on and off throughout the day for temperature control (that's the other thing: I don't have a proper dimming thermostat... Just an on/off one, and I can't find a dimmer that I can afford, though from what I understand the dimming is only crucial to the bulb life? It doesn't hurt the animal or anything? Please correct me if I'm wrong).
Anyway, I could really use some advice. She seems perky and healthy and everything, but I'm paranoid.

 

[acpart]

Not only can your leopard gecko be maintained without a UV light, I've also maintained day geckos, who need way more UVB than a leopard gecko on supplements alone. If you weren't switching to a new UVB bulb every 6-12 months, your gecko wasn't getting much UVB from the bulb anyway. If the gecko spent all its time in the hide, then unless you had one of the special UVB lights that Arcadia makes where the rays are supposed to penetrate into the hide, your gecko wasn't getting any benefit from the lights. It's very easy to provide appropriate calcium and vitamin D3 to a leopard gecko by dusting feeders every other feeding with powdered calcium with D3. I've been using Repashy Calcium Plus since about 2008 and it's worked well for me.
Plain window light is just fine for a leopard gecko. It's asleep during the day pretty much. Most keepers uses an under tank heater and the cheaper thermostats are also on/off which are really adequate. I only used a dimming thermostat (called a proportional thermostat) for the incubator when I was breeding geckos.
If your gecko is active in the evening/night, eating and pooping, it's probably fine. Consider getting belly heat (I like ZooMed heat cable best) rather than depending on heat lights. Up to you, though.

Aliza

 

[Roul]

Not only can your leopard gecko be maintained without a UV light, I've also maintained day geckos, who need way more UVB than a leopard gecko on supplements alone. If you weren't switching to a new UVB bulb every 6-12 months, your gecko wasn't getting much UVB from the bulb anyway. If the gecko spent all its time in the hide, then unless you had one of the special UVB lights that Arcadia makes where the rays are supposed to penetrate into the hide, your gecko wasn't getting any benefit from the lights. It's very easy to provide appropriate calcium and vitamin D3 to a leopard gecko by dusting feeders every other feeding with powdered calcium with D3. I've been using Repashy Calcium Plus since about 2008 and it's worked well for me.
Plain window light is just fine for a leopard gecko. It's asleep during the day pretty much. Most keepers uses an under tank heater and the cheaper thermostats are also on/off which are really adequate. I only used a dimming thermostat (called a proportional thermostat) for the incubator when I was breeding geckos.
If your gecko is active in the evening/night, eating and pooping, it's probably fine. Consider getting belly heat (I like ZooMed heat cable best) rather than depending on heat lights. Up to you, though.

Aliza

This so puts my mind at ease. Thank you...
She actually has a heat mat, too. I just use the lamp for a tiny bit of additional heating during the day, since it gets the tank up to tank a lot more quickly. Probably not super necessary. I just use it because I have it lying around, I guess.
I'll have to look into that heat cable stuff. Thanks again!