Question about temperature

[IrishQB13]

I am setting up my tank before I actually get a leo. Making sure everything is correct. Before I bring one home. I have an UTH and to measure the temperature I have the thermometer laying on the substrate. Is this correct or is the air temperature supposed to be 86-90? Or is it the ground temperature? Also, is this correct? Hot side is supposed to be 86-90 during day and 75 at night? And cool side stays constant with air temperature?? Thank you!!!

 

[Mel&Keith]

That sounds pretty good for air temps. Just get a probe thermometer to measure the floor temp on the warmest spot. You want that to be around 92 (maybe a couple degrees higher depending on your low temp). Some people do night drops but we leave our temps constant.

 

[Jama]

I wanted to share something with all of you, and you just gave me the perfect thread to do it!!
temp should be around 92F according to....everybody here
the funny thing is that here in argentina, every vet you ask about temp, said it should be around 86F.
it's really odd you know.
but as i always say, argentina is very new about geckos, way to far comparing to you guys....so my temp is 90/92F.
vet's also give me a strange look when i said 92F...works great fo me so...
specially taking into account that it comes from a vet who use sand as a substract for all of his geckos!!!

 

[Mel&Keith]

I think the generally agreed upon care practices change evolve thanks to the internet. 20 years ago you could only get info from reptile books or magazines. There was only a hand full of info out there for any given species. Thanks to the internet, people from around the globe can weigh in on what works/doesn't work for them.

Some members here keep their geckos as high as 95F-97F and swear that it's better. It works for them, but I live on the Gulf Coast where it's warm and humid most of the year so we keep our temps lower. There's still some trial and error involved in finding the perfect temp for your geckos. That's why there's so much conflicting info out there.

 

[leogecko88]

I keep my floor temps at 92 on the warm side. Any higher and she will avoid the warm area.