What do you do for winter season?

[LeoMerlin]

I know I have a bit of time before the wintery season hits, but what do you usually do as far as feeding goes? I think I read some people will leave food in there (changed periodically of course like normal feeding) and if they eat, they'll eat, but I just want to make sure that he WILL eat, or if he won't, he won't lose weight or get a skinny tail.

 

[acpart]

Most of my geckos slow or stop eating in the winter. I feed them every 3rd day (if I still have juveniles in the winter, they get fed every day) but some of them hardly eat. I wrote an article about it for Gecko Time: http://www.geckotime.com/the-yearly-cycle-with-geckos/

Aliza

 

[ReptileWorld]

Hmm You might get a lot of different responses to this questions.. I believe this will fall under the wild vs captivity. I feed my geckos just as much as I would in the summer and in the winter and they eat just as much. I do change their light cycle on the timers but I see no difference in feeding.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I feed mine if they'll eat and don't worry about it if they aren't interested. Some will, some won't. Some eat once a week. They see me messing around with stuff and give me "the look". Geckos still actively growing will usually continue to eat daily, maybe skip a day or two a week.

 

[LeoMerlin]

Alrighty thanks so much everyone, I guess I'm just being paranoid because I know it gets really super cold in my house. I know that will interfere with his eating habits too. I'm still looking for a thermostat that will help control the temps especially for winter.

 

[acpart]

My house gets down to the low 60's during the day in the winter and everyone is fine.

Aliza

 

[LeoMerlin]

That's good then, I wonder, should I get a bigger UTH just for the winter season in case I can't find a thermostat? He's got the 10-20 gallon sized UTH for his 20 gallon long now.

 

[acpart]

A bigger UTH will just get hotter so if you don't have a thermostat, don't get something that's even hotter. Remember that the thermostat can only lower the tempearture, not raise it.

Aliza

 

[LeoMerlin]

Gah well how do I get the temps to stay where they need to be? Merlin is in the 20 long with a 10-20g UTH and Artemis is in the 10 gallon with a 10-20g UTH. Plus the lamps. Though Merlin's bulb got busted while I was cleaning so need to get him a new lamp & bulb as soon as I can.

 

[acpart]

Are you sure your floor temperatures won't be fine in the winter? One way to make them a bit hotter is to tape a piece of aluminum foil over the bottom of the UTH so it's sandwiched between the bottom of the tank and the aluminum foil. That directs more of the heat upwards.

Aliza