Missing the brown part in fecal

[Guillaume-G]

For the last two times my leopard gecko defecated, it only have the white part (urate) with dried up liquid around it. Usually it have a brown and white part and it's all dry around. Is there something unusual?

Thanks

 

[Khrysty]

In my experience, the urates alone is from water consumption and leos won't have the brown/black part if they're not eating or not digesting their food.

Is your leo eating? Are your temps okay? Is impaction a possibility?

 

[Guillaume-G]

Thx for the reply. The temperature is at 84 at the hot side, she's eating but not as much. The thing is I just cleaned all the terrarium and put ciramic tile as substrate and she look confused so she don't eat as much. As for the impaction I don't think so. I was using reptile bark before the ciramic but I never feed her in the terrarium since I heared about impaction risk right after i put the bark (3 month ago).

 

[Kristi23]

84 is too low for the hot side. The floor temps should be 90-94 on the hot side. Raising the temps should help a lot with digestion.

 

[Khrysty]

raising the temps should encourage her to eat a little more, too

 

[Guillaume-G]

She has eated like 6 cricket so that's good. But for the heat part... I have a heat bulp and a 16watt heat mat. The thing is I can't use the mat cause it'll raise the temperature to 96-98. Especially since it's on ciramic I don't want to cook them alive. I tried to put a regular 40w bulp and it's doen't do any difference cause my terrarium is a 18x18' and 24" high. I was thinking on buying a 8watts mat but they're only 8x8" and it's kinda small since I have two gecko in there. Any advice on that?
There's a picture of my terrarium...
View attachment 22970

 

[Khrysty]

have you tried the heat mat without the light?

 

[EchoPet]

The UTH should only be on half of the tank so that you have a warm side and a cool side. Having a temperature gradient is important. If the UTH is too hot, get a rheostat (dimmer).

 

[Wreptile]

I love your tank! That's is REALLY cool.
If your Leo's like it on the second level there, you could put a UTH under the Repti-Carpet.
That'd be my suggestion.

 

[Guillaume-G]

Yeah thanks. Yes they like the second level but more for the night. During the day, one is always in the "wet-room" and the other in the big cave (this cave is 12" wide so I placed it to be half on the mat and half the cold ciramic). I was thinking of putting a UTH under the second floor but i gues I can't since it's made out of wood.

I have one question about the UTH and the gradient. The tank is 18x18 (17x17 from the inside) and the mat is 11x11. So I quess it's to big. Can I cut it without damaging it or causing electrical hazard?

And finally a good news. I found two sets of brown and white fecal (one for each) hehe so that part is over

 

[Khrysty]

no. you'll damage the mat if you cut it. You need to buy a smaller size.

As for putting a mat on the second floor, you can drill a hole through the wall and put a piece of foil over the wood, lay the heater down, then your substrate--i think you said you're using tile? That would work well and wouldn't damage the wood in any way.

 

[Guillaume-G]

I was thinking, would it be better to live it like that...that is to leave the big mat on the floor and the 2e floor unheated? Since there's more heat than cold in the floor, the second floor would be like a cold side since it's only 80 compared to 90 directly on the mat. There's still a good 8x18" of floor without the mat. Since the big cave is half hot half cold and there always over the hot half.

 

[Khrysty]

as long as your gecko has a place to escape from the heat, there's no problem leaving the top unheated and the bottom just a little too heated. Sounds like you have an equal ratio of hot space to cold space.

 

[Guillaume-G]

Thanks for the advice

 

[Wreptile]

I would definately NOT advise cutting the UTH's.