New Leopard Gecko!

[RyuuKirin]

Hi! I just joined and want to make sure the set up I have is ok for my new little fella (or girl). I wish I had a picture of him, but he's either currently trying to hibernate or terrified of his new surroundings...

Anyway, he's in a 10 gallon tank with reptile carpet for substrate. On one side is an under-tank heater and a cave (where he's currently hiding) and the other has a moist hide and a smaller cave. There's a plastic plant against the moist hide container so he can get into it. I also have a little bowl for water, a bowl for calcium powder, and once I see him up and moving, will get a bowl for some meal worms... but until then I have small crickets, and I put him in a kritter keeper to eat... mostly because I hate catching crickets and don't want him to get bit. OH, and a screen lid on top

Does all that sound ok? I know they don't bask like my beardie does and light hurts their eyes... but I feel like the tank is missing something...

Here's a crap picture taken by my phone last night before Kirin decided to hide.... He kind of looks like a banded gecko in this picture... doesn't he?

 

[ZooKeeperKarin]

Sounds perfect... what is your floor temp on the warm side?

 

[RyuuKirin]

I'm not 100% sure, I have to find my thermometer I use for my beardie... I'll dig around and check it tonight... what's an ideal temp? S/he moved to the cooler spot when I turned on the space heater this evening... I'm wondering if I shouldn't put a paper towel under the reptile carpet as more of a buffer...

Also, I'm concerned the dishes I bought are a little too high... they are about an inch off the tank floor, but I put a small rock in front of two of them.... think I need something smaller?

Here's a better picture... s/he was out exploring

 

[minimoe80]

Sounds good to me Ry

 

[minimoe80]

I posted at the same time you were RY.. That second picture is just to hard to see

 

[RyuuKirin]

yeah... the light in my bedroom is pretty dim.... that's why I put Kirin in here... I'll get my camera out later too- see if I can't get a better picture. Kirin looks a lot like the banded gecko I used to have... minus the spots on the nose.

 

[minimoe80]

Ok Ry.. Sounds good. Ill look back for the pic

 

[roger]

u want the warm temps to be 90-95 deg

 

[RyuuKirin]

it's only measuring 80... but the it's about a quarter inch off the carpet... he's on a heat mat, should I get a red heat light to kind of boost the temps?

I got a couple pictures.... now I'm off to find my cord pictures soon

 

[RyuuKirin]

he doesn't like having his picture taken but i'm sure he'll calm down eventually

 

[prettyinpink]

80 degrees is too cold, also I'm partial to reptile carpet as I've had problems with it. If you want, you can take it out and use paper towels which might even raise your temps...just make sure to touch the ground with your hand to make sure the heat mat isn't too hot where it'll burn him if you take it out. Sometimes you have to mess around with things to make the temp go up. You'll get the hang of it

I agree with what you said...you feel like you're missing something. They sure are different than beardies, I felt that way too. But looks like you're getting the hang of it. They don't bask like beardies, they use their 'caves' or hides to warm them up... And they use their bellies unlike beardies to get their heat up. They're nocturnal (if you didn't know) so yes, they don't like light.

S/He may not eat for a few days and may not come out due to stress. Which is normal.

Hopefully I helped a little! And again welcome aboard

OH! Almost forgot, your question about the dishes... she should be fine. My little one when I got her had high dishes and she dug in. So you should be fine.

Edit to add: wow he's cute and tiny! (typed this before you posted pics)

 

[Dog Shrink]

Aw s/he's just a baby There will be a LOT of color changes as Kirin grows up. Maybe you can look at the before and after pix thread to see just how much he might change as he grows. Also put the heat probe directly on the floor of the tank for your most accurate readings. Leos are not like beardies... belly heat is what's most important to them, ambient temps... not so much... Your floor temps should be between the 90-95 Roger mentioned. It's good he's out exploring already. It usually takes about a week-ish for them to settle.

Your dishes looked fine to me. I use votive candle holders for my calcium and water and hand feed my leo. I drop supers in with tweezers one at a time and he stalks them then gobbles them up. Yours being a juvie you'll likely want to feed him daily, then once he gets closer to 5-6 mos old you can go to every other day or 3 times a week. My Eros just turned 9 mos old and he eats 2 superworms 3x a week. I see the 2 little pinner crickets in there with him in your pics... does he catch them ok? Are you dusting his food with any type of multi vit?

As far as lighting goes, I kinda prefer the moonlight blue heat light if you need to elevate your temps simply because there was a thread on here a while back where some one did an experiment with red light and how it affected his leo. On a 10 gallon tank what size uth do you use (dimensions please). from what I read your uth should cover 1/3 of your tank floor. As long as you provide that temperature gradient between hot and cool side he should self regulate as he needs. Don't worry that it is too hot if you're with in those parameters (90-95). He'll do what he needs to.

He's adorable... good luck with him

PS for Erica... leos are actually crepuscular, active at dawn and dusk, Semus has pointed this out on a few threads http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?p=601605#post601605 he explains this in post #10 presumably because he gets tired of everyone generalizing them as noctournal...but no biggie... just me being nit picky

 

[prettyinpink]

Do you happen to have the thread on the red light? I'd love to take a look at it

 

[Dog Shrink]

I'm looking for it

Ok I'm pretty sure this was the one I was talkign about http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=67885&highlight=light+experiment

 

[roger]

he doesn't like having his picture taken but i'm sure he'll calm down eventually

the heat is having trouble getting through that carpet.u can do either 2 things.leave the carpet but remove it under his warm hide or u can use an infrared bulb overhead to supplement your heat pad

 

[RyuuKirin]

I might cut the carpet in half, use paper towels on the warm side and the carpet on the cooler side. It's actually carpet left over from my beardies tanks... she's got two sets for her viv as I end up washing them every few days when she isn't brumating.

It's funny that you say s/he's so tiny... the banded gecko I had (was just a hatchling...) was maybe half the size of Kirin (and a total spaz). S/he was actually the largest gecko in the cage at the store... poor kid who had to wake up all the sleeping babies so I could look at them all.

I'll see if I can't get the temps up on the warm side... then I'll worry about a light.... as for the dimensions of the UTH... to be honest, I have no idea! It's rated for a 10-20 gallon tank, and I put it so it almost fits half the bottom of the 10 gallon... is that too little a surface area? I have a smaller one I can stick on there too, I think.... but that would make the cooler side much smaller.

Now, as for the moonlight blue light you were talking about... I've never seen it at the stores around here (I live in the middle of nowhere). Will it fit in a clamp lamp? Ryuu (the beardie) needs a bigger one, and I thought if I could find the light, provided the tank temp stays too cool, I could use her lamp and just place it on the lid... it's heat resistant - or so said the cardboard on the lid.

 

[RyuuKirin]

Ok, so I cut the reptile carpet in half and put paper towels on the warm side, and left the carpet on the cooler side... the temp is now measuring around 94 degrees, and little Kirin seems much happier. He's actually out exploring again. I don't know why I was worried about him not being able to get into his dishes either... he's climbed through all of them Hasn't quite figured out there's food in one or water in his water dish, but I suppose he'll figure it out

 

[Dog Shrink]

the food dish think can be hard for some leos. maybe keep a piece of carrot in the dish (larger than what kirin could eat) to stimulate the worms to move more. My leo won't eat out of a dish and he is 9 mos old. He likes to stalk his prey. Yes a moonlight blue bulb will fit into any standard light socket. maybe look on a reptile sight or do a google image search to see what they look like. Glad to hear that you were able to get your temps up. That's great. Just an fyi your uth should cover about 1/3rd of the bottom of the tank. Sounds like you got him going on the right track. Keep up the good work

 

[RyuuKirin]

he seems scared of food right now... I took a couple worms out and let them crawl around and he backed away from them... he looks horrified at his crickets too =/ not real sure what to do about that.

 

[roger]

Ok, so I cut the reptile carpet in half and put paper towels on the warm side, and left the carpet on the cooler side... the temp is now measuring around 94 degrees, and little Kirin seems much happier. He's actually out exploring again. I don't know why I was worried about him not being able to get into his dishes either... he's climbed through all of them Hasn't quite figured out there's food in one or water in his water dish, but I suppose he'll figure it out

Good to hear.thats were u want the temps at around 90-95 deg.Go to home depot and get an infrared bulb they dont cost alot