New and have a few questions

[Jennie]

I just adopted a Free single leo from Petco, "she" (so I'm told) came in a 5.5 gal, which was visibly too small. I had bought a Premium Oasis Garden Terrarium right off the bat, I believe its about the same size as a 10gal. he also came with a 50watt bulb & no under heating mat. I couldn't recall if leo's even needed a basking light or under-mat and after scanning the isles for books/care-guides for leos to find NONE I had to result to asking an employee who only suggested 100wat. bulb. After coming home and setting the tank up and doing some research they DO need the under-mat which I intend on getting tomorrow.

My question with that is: Does it need to be under the tank? Or can it be on the back of the tank? I'm using a linoleum flooring square I had bought from Home Depot which has been cut to fit the tank, so I'm unsure if that would be safe to use if I were to but the mat under the tank. I was even thinking of maybe creating a second level with the under-heater on that level instead?

Also: is this tank sufficient for a single Leo, I've been hearing mixed opinions on that. I was thinking on buying the Tetrafauna® Deluxe Sliding Door Habitat instead but being double the $$$ I'm still unsure.

 

[tiedxupxinxknots]

that tank works, however, id recommend paper towels as a substrate, also yes the most beneficial place for a UTH is under the tank since leos need belly heat to digest just make sure it stays at between 90F-94F and your leopard will be happy.

 

[im faster]

Its called a Under tank heat pad for a reason.. :-D
always udnder the tank for leos..
and get the linoleum out QUICK.. once it heats up it can give off toxic fumes.

use slate or tiles.. or papert towles are good also

 

[Jennie]

Thank you tiedxupxinxknots & im faster.

I ended up getting the bigger tank today which I feel much better about, along with: an UTH, digital temp gauge, a slightly lower wattage heat bulb, & tile cut to size. I'm doing a quarter of the tank in paper towel - the side with the moist hut & UTH.

I JUST set up the tank, so far the highest reading in the moist hut has been 86.2 but I'm keeping and eye on it.

Here are some pictures: How does this look?

<--so far

<--moist hut with the temp gauge. Am I doing this right?

<--heat bulb

 

[matt1134]

Tank Looks really good. I would raise the temps just alittle.

 

[Jennie]

Yeah, it ended up going up just fine, 92-95ish. I ended up getting a bigger UTH to get more surface area heated up but with that it shot up into the high 90s even 101F degrees at most, so I had to adjust some things to drop that down some. I just updated the tank and added a second level - photos of that here: http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=85706