Need good strrong help/advice

[voodood]

Hi all,
Im from Grimsby UK and i have got a Leopard Gecko recently via someone i used to with with on facebook.
He put the add on there that it he is 3 years old and is fully grown.
And comes with

2.5ft viv
heat mat
heat lamp
hollowed out log
a cave
resovior
and a bit of what looks like drift wood.

The guys said it was his sons and he has now gone to uni so has been left with it and now really needs the room more than anything. Also the poor Geckos tank was on top of a guitar amp >_<

The guy who i got him from did not seem to really know much or care about him that much so im really pleased i borugh him home with me, and what to give him a really good home and care that he needs.

He said that the heat mat + lamp need to be on 24/7
Its a 2.5 foot tank, with a heat lamp at one end in the middle there is heat mat and nothing at one end.
In his viv there seems to be quite a few meal worm in there with him and a few that look like v small black things running about and 1 black cricket. Should i wait for him to eat the black cricket that is in there with him? or get rid of it?
I have also read about that you should dust your food in this calcium power stuff which i dont know if its ever been done for him or not but i doubt it.

One good thing i can say is that he has a nice big juicy tail

Gecko has been with me since sunday and have not seen much of him as i thnk he getting used to his new viv localtion around him. He has also shed his skin.

On the floor of his tank the guy was using some wood chip that im not to keen on and some ppl say that its ok and some say its not. i did ask in a local pet shop and one guy there said that he used to use the sand sheets out of bird cage, and i did read somewhere that you could also use some vinyal floor cut to size.

Thanks in advance

 

[Pinky81]

Welcome to GF! and congrats on your new friend! There are some really great caresheets that will lay out for you all the important basics of gecko care I suggest you read over the sheets to start with...will answer most all your questions above.

http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=55647

 

[ajveachster]

You should be able to get most answers you are looking for via one of the care sheets. You will want to remove any bugs that have not been eaten. It sounds like the mealworms have actually morphed into their adult stage which is the black beetles you are seeing. Typically leos will not eat them at that point.

 

[voodood]

thanks for the info ppl,
one thing i did not see was what about light? i heat mat and heat lamp are on 24/7 is that ok?

 

[Pinky81]

Under tank heater is what you should be using...not sure if "heat mat" to you is a under tank heater or some kinda heat rock. But yes that stays on 24/7. Leo do not need lights and infact bright lights like basking lamps stress them out. Its ok to use infared or Blue moon light bulbs for "supplimental" heat or viewing at night"

How are you measuring your temps?? Hot side should be 90-95 degrees and cool side air temp. best way to measure your temps would be a digital thermometer probe that lays on the tank floor on the hotside that way you know what "belly heat" your leo is getting. Anything else that is stuck to the Viv glass or what not is basically useless..it measure glass/air temp not belly temps.

Once you know what temp your hot side is then you can decide if you need a infared bulb or not. I need one during the winter months because my place gets cold.

Hope this helps!

 

[voodood]

yeah heat mat is UTH its covers a 3rd of his tank but i dont know how hot it should get,
like i said the guy who i took it all off had really no idea >_<

 

[voodood]

heat...
okie his viv is just shy of 24 gallon how much wattaged UTH would i need for him?
floor...
for flooring could i use vinyl flooring like you would have in kitchen or a bathroom? one local pet shop siad he used to used sand sheet like you would put in bottom of a birdcage but i think that might be to rough!
light....
do they need to have a more darken room in the day time for sleeping as they more up at night???
location...
as im sure most thing in the world dont like been looked at to closely his viv is behind me in a very small ofice and i mean very small! is it gonna freak him out?

 

[Kotori]

Heat: I Don't know how much of a wattage one, what I did was get the only kind the petstore had, plugged it in and put my hand against it an hour later. If it was running too hot, I'd put more bedding over it(Its under the tank)
Floor: I use coconut shavings. With tile, I think the biggest thing is that it doesn't have adhesives on the back- fumes and such. With coconut shavings, It's easy to fix a UTH running hot- just put another inch on top.
Light:I suggest this: get whatever watt bulb you need, and get a timer. Set it for no more than 14 hours of light.I think they kinda deal with whatever light there is when their light is off.
Location: I don't think so. Just don't be suprised if he watches you move around- mine does =)

One thing you didn't ask for is food. Crickets should be smaller than the space between their eyes, dusted about every other feeding (How I do it because mine eats a few large is every 5 crickets) Mealworms...mine takes them sometimes. I suggest get a popsicle stick to poke it with to make it squirm. Once your Leo notices it, he will either eat it, or the mealworm will burrow- dig it up and try again. Without a popsicle stick, you run the risk of getting bitten. Doesn't hurt much, but does scare you, and your gecko if you jerk your hand.(Speaking from experience- bitten twice.)If you have mealworm beetles, you could try to breed them I guess...But it takes a bit of space. If you buy mealworms and don't want beetles, put them in the fridge- they stop growing. same with crickets.
I think the main beddings to NEVER use is sand and walnut shells.