(long post sorry) question about heat tolerance and leopard geckos

[grboxa]

ive been reading posts here and there and ive been seeing horror stories about pythons being fried, or geckos being burnt..and im a bit worried because I seem to have ocd on making sure my temps are perfect with my uth and reptitherm 500 which i just got...i seen many negative reviews on the 500 but it was in my price range and gave it a shot...the temperatures jump a bit on the hot site but i positioned the cave ontop of the uth so theres basically 3 temperature ranges in the cave...since hes a juvie and hes small he can basicaly lay in the corner left 96.5f middle 95-95.5f and corner right is 92.5 all usually constant but sometimes they spike...ive read alot of people complaining about it not being reliable but then people say its great theere just doing something wrong..so basically my quesiton is what is the heat threshold for leopard geckoes incase something goes wrong...do they react and wake up because mostly there sleeping..or do they tend to get burnt like ive read with pythos where its basically to late

 

[tiedxupxinxknots]

It has to go pretty high for them to get burnt, and idk about them getting burnt by staying there to long, my geckos usually leave if they are to warm, and in my opinion I think 95 is kinda high for leos, one of my geckos would never go on the warm hide for that reason, I usually keep it around 90-92, and if u have a thermostat then there shouldn't be a problem with burning bcuz it shuts off if it gets to 110 or so.

 

[grboxa]

ever since ive gotten my UTH hes been in there much more then before....ive noticed him being on the cold side much more before with my heatlamp lol.....can i just add something...i have a 10x20 tank so im assuming its a 10 or 20 gal not sure...i bought the heatpad for 10-20 gal...before my thermostat i had a probe thermometer..do i even need a thermostat then...if the temperature dosent go beyond 100 and the ambient air stays constant mostly he will chose his comfort zone no?

 

[fl_orchidslave]

The heat feels good on their belly and aids digestion. Having several hides gives your gecko the option to move to a cooler area if he chooses. 95 isn't too hot, but it wouldn't be advisable to be higher than that. Having a hide over the UTH holds heat in, which would increase the temp. Can you adjust the thermostat down just a hair?

 

[grboxa]

just did , yeah i wish i had a bigger tank to give him atleast a 3rd hide...

 

[Snuffles379]

I'm not any kind of expert on what area should be what heat, I have the same problem as you. I'm also a bit OCD attempting to get it to the right temp. and I've been having trouble so I'm even more concerned.
But from my experience with my Leo, who I've had for about eleven years now, if it is too hot he WILL NOT move. The most he'll do is come 1/4th out of the hide. He has two other hides, one of which is on his cool side he will not move into. Because of this he's been burnt once and almost got burned another time. The first time was when I was trying out tile as substrate and it got too hot. Luckily I was closely monitoring him so he only had pink toes for a few hours. The second time I believe the UTH randomly malfunctioned, even though the temp probe only read 88 degrees, and he recieved pretty bad burns on his two back feet and tail. Which he is still attempting to recovering from.
The moral of the story is neither times did he move out of his hide on the hot side. The vet said its not because they are unintelligent, they simply feel heat differently so do not know its injuring them.
I've been researching extensively and I have gotten so many different opinions on heating and the right temp that at this point I'm thinking the only right way is to watch your gecko closely and monitor his temp regularly.