New Leo :) Couple of Questions

[Higgi91]

Hi guys and gals,

Thankyou in advance for reading and I hope your all well

First post but have been browsing for a few weeks. Just got my first Leo 4 days ago and 'it' is getting used to its new home now and today just climbed on my hand (didn't lift it up though of course) for the first time, It is eating fine, I powder the worms with Calcium (just bought some Cal + D3 today too). I also have a calcium lid which I notice often has nose/tongue indent in it so it is eating that fine too.

Couple of questions;
1. I have just bought some Moss and have now got 1 large hide + moss in the warm part and 1 small/med coconut hide in the cool side, is this ok?

2. Is this temperature sensor placed ok (pic below). I have a heatmat under the terrarium with the glass on top of that and then 1" of substrate/now moss on top of that too. The thermostat is now at full (92'F) but the temp gauge I have next to sensor only says 22'Celsius. Since the sensor is a couple of inch above the heatmap/floor (just behind large hide) is this ok?

Finally A video of my cute little guy/gal We are not bonded enough yet to pick up and check Is my Gecko just curious with these 'Wierd' movements? Starts around 22secs in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oruBV70ADAQ

Thanks again,
Dan.

 

[vinnie-gecko]

if i were you id change the substrate. if it swallows any of that it could become impacted. its very cute btw. not sure what its doing in the vid but perhaps the lights are hurting its eyes

 

[ZombiGecko]

Would def switch to paper towels... looks like hes trying to escape lol

 

[GeekyGecko]

Looks like he's got an itch he's trying to scratch, or he's trying to get out, LOL. But yeah, definitely change the subtrate. I recommend paper towels, or my fave, tiles.

 

[Higgi91]

Hah thanks everyone As much as I love the subtrate I will switch to paper towels as soon as I can pick him/her up, it already got stressed today when I was putting its moss in it's only its 4th day in the tank.

Dan

 

[katie_]

If your not changing the substrate because you don't want to stress the gecko when you pick it up, don't worry. Changing it ASAP is more important.

 

[Higgi91]

Thankyou, took it out and put paper towles in for now, looks so crap ATM but would rather that than Gecko being unhappy. Have ordered some repti-carpet so hopefully it will make it a bit better looking.

Quite surprised though that when I put my hand in tank today it sniffed my fingers a bit and then climbed right on

 

[ChristinaJ]

you can go with tile instead of reptile carpet, reptile carpet isnt the best either as they can snag their toes and get stuck in it

 

[katie_]

Reptile carpet is ok, but you can also find natural looking tile.

 

[Bliss]

I used reptile carpet when i started out but the geckos sometimes got their teeth caught in the fibre loops when trying to eat insects. So i switched to kitchen floor lino which is very safe and easy to clean and as others have said you can find natural looking ones too.

Also you need to make sure your thermostat sensor is touching the floor as its the floor temperature you need to get right and not the ambient air temperature and go by the thermometer reading to get it to what it should be. Place your thermometer probe next to, but not touching the thermostat probe and then you will have a visual reading of the floor temp. You may have to push your thermostat probe a little further through to get it to touch the floor.

:main_thumbsup:

 

[Wild West Reptile]

Use tile. Cheap and looks great.

 

[mudskipper]

Make sure you get tiles with texture. He's very cute. I'm sure he'll learn the concept of glass soon enough. LOL

 

[Jordycakes]

Tile is the way to go!, dont worry they'll let you know there stressing as one of my newest Bit me pretty hard as i was too eager to hold it!