New gecko owner with light safety question

[kellyliz]

Hi everyone. I've been lurking here all week as I've been researching my son's new pet (picking him up today). It took me ages to get the temp right in my 10g glass aquarium. I found the small uth was barely raising the temp. I finally found a working system. small uth on side and one underneath with a red bulb from the top. I finally have a steady 88 degrees with light on and 78-80 at night with no light. Here's my concern. I'm completely freaked about leaving the house with my red light on unattended. I fastened it securely, but it makes me very nervous. It needs to be on to keep the tank warm enough, but I keep having fire nightmares. Can you please tell me if you leave yours on when you leave??

 

[indyana]

Congratulations on your new addition!

I do not keep a light on my gecko cage, but I do have a heat lamp on my skink cage. The following precautions are useful:

- Securely fasten the lamp to the stand. Or the cage top if the lamp sits directly on the screen top. Make certain whatever you use to secure the lamp will not melt or catch fire. I bought a lamp stand, but there are also lamps with built-in clamps. This is especially important if you have cats/dogs that might knock the lamp down or pull the cords.

- Make sure there is nothing around the area that could come into contact with the lamp and catch fire (hanging coats that could fall, etc.).

- Plug the lamp into a power strip with an integrated surge protector. Not all power strips have surge protection, so check what you're buying. Be certain not to overload the power strip too (most have a limit in wattage).

- Regulate the lamp with a thermostat that is connected to temperature sensor in the cage. If the lamp starts to malfunction for some reason, the thermostat can shut it down before it overheats the cage. Many thermostats have a simple overload protection circuit that will shut the unit off in case of a malfunction. Some fancy thermostats also have an "auto-off" safety feature that will shut off power to the lamp if it runs continuously for too long, but those are also more expensive.

 

[SCGeckos]

I personally think the geckos should be offered a warm spot of 90 - 93 degrees 24/7. This way the gecko can determine when it needs the heat and when it doesn't. I don't like any type of tank light on my geckos. What are you using as substrate? A properly sized UTH should cover about 1/4 - 1/3 of the floor space and when sized properly should reach that temp range quite easily. Also where are you checking the temp on the warm side (air temp or surface temp of the floor) and how are you checking it? (digital thermometer with probe, analog thermometer on the side of the tank, infra red temp gun, etc.)

 

[kellyliz]

My substrate is slate tile. No sand underneath either. The store suggested ditching the side heat pad and trying the first uth with 60w red bulb. The digital probe is on the tile surface. I have a temp gun on the way from amazon. He's been home an hour and is hanging in the cool hide. Temp is pretty steady in mid 80s for now.

 

[OhioGecko]

I would suggest a ceramic heater over the red light.

 

[Slicer]

I have the red bulb and lamp but never needed to use cause I have the heat pads under the tanks that allows the lizards to go to the hot spot when they want to get warm so u really don't need the lamp on when u leave, as long as the temp isn't dropping to some crazy 50 degrees.


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