New Gecko owner, need help ASAP

[Saphira]

a red light will add heat.... I have to use that and the UTH in order to keep my temps up.

 

[arborman]

Here is my moist hide

Thank you for that visual. I am on that right away. Do I have to worry about overcrowding the tank and not having enough room for him to wander around?

 

[THE WHISPERER]

going from sand to paper towels should help raise te temps since he'll be closer to the heat. If the heat still isn't where you want it try removing the wood that your tank is on, the air flow under there might be cooling it some.also was wondering if the food offered was dusted with vitamins, I've heard of some peoples geckos not being interested in dusted food. if so try without and just leave his vitamins in a dish for him to have access to.

 

[Wreptile]

Thank you for that visual. I am on that right away. Do I have to worry about overcrowding the tank and not having enough room for him to wander around?

It won't be too cluttered. If it is, my Leo's love to climb on and around things.
Be sure to take an updated picture when your done!
Good luck with your Leo.

 

[OhMyGecko]

If your not getting enough heat in there from the under tank heater, try putting a towel over top of the tank. I've had to do that with mine to keep the heat in because the fan in my room basically keeps the glass cool enough to keep it from getting warm. with out the towel on top of my cage it will be around 82-84 degrees, with a towel or closed top my temps average 88-92 degrees. I have my thermostate set for 93.

 

[arborman]

Ok, so I have made some changes to try and get this guy back on track: I removed all the sand and put down repti carpet. One other thing I changed was his hide. The one I had in was pretty open. I placed a nice, natural looking rock hide (non heating) that is pretty dark on the inside. Also, I added a UV basking lamp. I know some advised removing all lights, but I cannot get my temperature up. I have the UTH, and that combined with a red bulb gets the tank (in the day) up to a high of just under 85. With the basking bulb, I have been able to get the temp up to 90, but it is really bright in the tank. The guy at the pet store recommended the basking light to me. Perhaps I should get a higher wattage fixture so I can place a 100w red bulb in the lamp?

So, the leo is still not eating, and is still lethargic. We pulled him out last night to change the tank, and he actually became quite aware when we put him back in. We was moving around, had his eyes wide open, was not laying down, etc. But as time went on, he is back to laying around with eyes closed not eating. The other weird thing is he has no interest in going inside his hide. He stays right out in the open, mostly on the cooler side of the tank.

He has water, a bowl with vitamins and mealworms (which he does not touch), and even had a moist hide.. which he never went in. I took that out so he had more room.

Here is a picture of how it is set up now. 90 degrees, hide on heat side, with overhead UV light. Again, I can only get the temp up with this light. The other two (blue/red) will not get the temps up enough. A neighbor of mine said he thought the low temps was certainly the problem. What do you all think? Am I doing something way wrong here? He has certainly gone downhill since he came home with us.

 

[cyndi0502]

a UV bulb can certainly hurt him more than help him. i would get rid of that ASAP, since leo's are noturnal and do not need UV. there are cases reported that UV causes a leo to be lethargic and it may hurt their eyes.

on another note, you need a new thermometer. the one you have does not record the actual temps, you need a digital one with a probe to place on the ground so the temps are accurately recorded from the floor. you are seeing low temps because the thermometer is on top of the cage, not the bottom. usually, UTH'S get way hotter than you want them too, so i'm sure once your thermometer problem is fixed, the temperature problem will be too.

additionally, i would add two more hides. he needs a cool hide, a warm hide, and a moist hide. i know you said he doesn't go in them, but he might just be adjusting and he eventually will, and he needs the choices of those hides.

everything else looks fine, but if you make the temperature adjustments there is a chance he will be getting better

 

[mainelygeckos]

How long after you got her did this start to happen? You def don't need the UVB light it is way too bright and they are nocturnal which is why they do not need it. The bright light will stress them out. Did you get it at the petstore? No names of the store please. And if so they were prolly housed on sand there as well, right? I have a 75watt red light bulb over my tanks to keep heat up and you can get them up to 150watts I believe. They cannot see red light. I have one tank with papertowels as a substrate and one with repti carpet and both work well for heat over the UTH with the red light added. The lights will not be needed however after the summer temps hit Maine which may be next month lol. The moist hide is very important for them at all times. You should have a hide over boththe cool side and warm side. If you want to see a picture of one of my setups I will post em upon request. Good luck hope the lil one makes it.

Petstores are not as knowledgable about their animals as one would like to believe. Do not listen to them or you will be spending a fortune for something you do not need. Most people on this site have dealt with leos for many years and know exactly what they are talking about.

 

[arborman]

a UV bulb can certainly hurt him more than help him. i would get rid of that ASAP, since leo's are noturnal and do not need UV. there are cases reported that UV causes a leo to be lethargic and it may hurt their eyes.

on another note, you need a new thermometer. the one you have does not record the actual temps, you need a digital one with a probe to place on the ground so the temps are accurately recorded from the floor. you are seeing low temps because the thermometer is on top of the cage, not the bottom. usually, UTH'S get way hotter than you want them too, so i'm sure once your thermometer problem is fixed, the temperature problem will be too.

additionally, i would add two more hides. he needs a cool hide, a warm hide, and a moist hide. i know you said he doesn't go in them, but he might just be adjusting and he eventually will, and he needs the choices of those hides.

everything else looks fine, but if you make the temperature adjustments there is a chance he will be getting better

Ok, thank you for your advice. I had a feeling the UV light was going to get bashed, but I was afraid the temps were vital. I will ditch that and get a digi thermo. Question: Where do I place the probe: Under the substrate, right over the UTH?

Also, the tanks seems sooooo small to accomodate two more hides. Does the little guy not need room to roam? I had a moist hide in the tank, but he really had little floor space after that was in there to move around. In your opinion, is it more important to have a moist hide or a cool hide? I am not sure if I have enough floor space to put in 3 total.

 

[Riyo]

You can cram quite a bit in a 10 gallon tank. Leo's don't really do a lot of roaming, and they can always climb onto and over the stuff you put in the tank. I think that one hide is too little and that can be stressful because there is no where for him to hide.

Here is one of my ten gallon tanks:

On the topic of moist hides, I only give mine a moist hide when they are in shed. I've never had a problem with doing it this way.

 

[arborman]

How long after you got her did this start to happen? You def don't need the UVB light it is way too bright and they are nocturnal which is why they do not need it. The bright light will stress them out. Did you get it at the petstore? No names of the store please. And if so they were prolly housed on sand there as well, right? I have a 75watt red light bulb over my tanks to keep heat up and you can get them up to 150watts I believe. They cannot see red light. I have one tank with papertowels as a substrate and one with repti carpet and both work well for heat over the UTH with the red light added. The lights will not be needed however after the summer temps hit Maine which may be next month lol. The moist hide is very important for them at all times. You should have a hide over boththe cool side and warm side. If you want to see a picture of one of my setups I will post em upon request. Good luck hope the lil one makes it.

Petstores are not as knowledgable about their animals as one would like to believe. Do not listen to them or you will be spending a fortune for something you do not need. Most people on this site have dealt with leos for many years and know exactly what they are talking about.

Thank you for your reply! Also, I would love to see a pic of your setup.

So, the UV light is now off, and I will get the new thermo today. Yes, the pet store... they sold me all this garbage...and I do not trust them at all anymore. We really started to notice him going downhill late last week, almost 3 weeks after we brought him home. Another thing I should let you know is that the tank is in the brightest room in the house ( as far as natural sunlight is concerned). But, we live on the Coast, and it is foggy and cool outside many days. Should the tank be placed in another room where there is not as much sunlight?

Thanks to all of you for your help. I truly appreciate it

 

[cyndi0502]

Ok, thank you for your advice. I had a feeling the UV light was going to get bashed, but I was afraid the temps were vital. I will ditch that and get a digi thermo. Question: Where do I place the probe: Under the substrate, right over the UTH?

Also, the tanks seems sooooo small to accomodate two more hides. Does the little guy not need room to roam? I had a moist hide in the tank, but he really had little floor space after that was in there to move around. In your opinion, is it more important to have a moist hide or a cool hide? I am not sure if I have enough floor space to put in 3 total.

yeah, i have a 10 gallon as well and i can fit a lot of things into it. i have 3 hides and there's still some room. usually, leos like to hide more than walk around, so in my opinion hides are way more important than floor space. they don't need to be huge rock hides, anything small will do. a moist and cool hide are both kind of vital, but if you really don't want to put both in there, you can put the moist hide in when you notice he's shedding, but even then it can be hard because they can shed without you knowing.

as for your question, you put the probe right on top of the carpet above the UTH. some people use tape to hold it down, or you can place it under the warm hide. they're about 10 dollars at any petstore.

 

[arborman]

Ok! Now I know not to worry about floor space. Second hide just added, but the little guy is not looking so good. Man, I hope he makes it through this. The Pet stores advice has seemingly caused the majority of the stress issues at this point! Bad substrate, wrong lighting, wrong thermometer, one hide, etc.

Thank god I found this place... !:main_yes: