totally confused with new gecko/housing

[Jim36]

Hello Everyone,

My wife and I just bought a leopard gecko for our twin daughters. I'm having a problem regulating the tempature and humidity. We live in MI and it's really humid right now. Currently, I have a 100 watt basking light for the daytime and a 50 watt heat light for the night. We have a big rock type thing that he can crawl into and hide. We put some moss in there because we read they like that. We have a small water dish and a fake plant. He really like the plant. At night he like to lay on it. The temp during the day gets to 80 degrees. The humidity is approx 85 degrees. I read some where that we shouldn't be using bulbs for heat. We should be using a heat pad under the carpet. I'm frustrated and confused. Can anyone help? Thank you!

Jim

 

[garner63080]

First off Congrats on the new addiction. Buy an Under the Tank Heater (UTH) it goes on the glass underneath the tank. As for humidity there's not a lot for that. Put the moss inside a container and moisten it for shedding. Temps need to be in the 90's on the ground under their hide. Hope this helps. If you need more clarification just ask.

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[mango+cola]

Leopard geckos don't need to bask, so I would just remove that light. Also, I dont know if your "lights" are just emitting heat, or if it is actually light aswell, but light can stress them out, so just remove the lights and add a UTH as said above. It should cover 1/3 of the tank. Put one hide over the heat mat (hot hide), one hide in between the heat mat and the cold side (this is the moist hide, put some paper towel in there and keep in moist, this will aid in their shedding), and then put a hide on the cool side (cool hide). I assume your using repti carpet which is good. It is personal choice, but I would get rid of the moss and use paper towel, some geckos eat the moss and it can cause impaction. I try to keep nothing in my geckos tank that it will eat (except food) for the fear of causing impaction and getting whopping vet bills.

 

[Jim36]

Thank you both. Looks like I got bad advice from the person at the pet store. I will go get the heating pad and extra hides. Thanks again!

 

[jmarc23]

 

[TranceZ]

Thank you both. Looks like I got bad advice from the person at the pet store. I will go get the heating pad and extra hides. Thanks again!

This does not surprise me. :main_thumbsdown: