new gecko; new to everything, so give me advice plz?

[tiedxupxinxknots]

ello, im kinda new to leopard geckos and i just got my sunglow enigma today, i also bought a zilla carpet liner, a hide, and a Zoo Med Repti-Therm UTH Under Tank Heaters because i heard that lighting hurts the geckos eyes and stresses them but im not sure if i placed it correctly i just put it under the tank and i dont have a thermometer so i dont know the exact temparature but i think the carpet liner absorbs some of the heat also im not sure if it can get too hot so is any2 familiar with this uth and is there anyway to control the exact temparature of it? next the cold side is room temperature so it can go from 76-80 and im not sure if thats too cold, another question i have is that i got Repta-Calcium Dietary Supplement from flukers and it has d3 i heard that geckos can overdose on that so im only going to shake the mealworms once a week with it but it doesnt stick well what do u guys use? also my set up is a 10 gal tank i believe and my gecko is about 2 months old and im planning to move her to a bigger tank soon so what would u guys recommend me putting in the new tank? any help would b appreciated!!! C:

 

[OnlineGeckos]

Congrats on your new leopard gecko

You have the UTH setup right, it goes under the tank, on the outside. You should have it on one side of the tank, so there is temperature gradient inside. Your leo will decide whether he wants to go to the warm side or cool side.

You will want to get a digital thermometer with a probe, so you can lay the probe on the carpet to test the temperature on the carpet. Leopard geckos use belly heat to warm up and digest their food, so it's not the air temperature you want to know, it's the carpet temperature.

You can control your temperature by buying a thermostat. You can find them in petstores or online shops.

76-80 on the cool side is fine. If your room drops below 70 then you'll have to worry about it, and setup an alternate heat source like a ceramic heater or a red bulb.

As with calcium supplements there's a few ways you can go about it. Buy a calcium supplement without D3, put some in a bottle cap and leave it in the tank. Your leopard gecko will lick it and get calcium from it whenever he wants. Then purchase a multi vitamin supplement with D3 and dust food with it twice a week or so. Some have said it's also ok to put calcium with D3 in a bottle cap and leave it inside the tank, then purchase a vitamin supplement without D3 to use for dusting purposes. Either way, you will want to leave calcium in a bowl/bottle cap inside the tank at all time for your leo to lick on.

For hides you want to make sure there's a warm hide, moist hide, and cool hide. Rest is up to you to decorate. But those 3 hides are the bare minimum. Good luck!

 

[Fencer04]

It sounds like you are really on your way and have a nice setup going. As was said in the previous post you'll want to get a digital thermometer and put the probe on top of the carpet under a rock or something to make sure you get the ground temp. You want it to be between 90 and 95 degrees. Your cool side is also fine.

When it comes to putting the calcium on the mealworms I would do it more than once per week for the exact reason you are seeing. Not a lot sticks. I alternate between doing it every day for like 2 weeks and then I take like 2 weeks off. I also offer calcium without D3 to all my females so they can take some extra if they want.

Good luck!

 

[tiedxupxinxknots]

awesome ok thanks guy well hows this thermostat?http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Repti-Temperature-Rheostat/dp/B0002AQD0Y and what exact UTH do u guys use cuz the 1 i have isnt very good same for the thermostat