Where do you guys put the heat pad probe?

[Leo]

Hi guys, I've had my Leo for over a year now and so far he seems to be healthy. He eats semi-regularly, almost exclusively Dubias, and I usually dust with either calcium or Repashy Plus. He's currently on my shoulder while I write this. Anyways, something's concerning me that I thought I should double-check.

I cleaned his cage today and after everything was back, I noticed his thermostat wasn't rising past 80F or so. His rock hide is on top of two layers of paper towel, and glass directly beneath with a heat pad. The probe sits on top of the towels in the hide with him. As soon as I tried putting the probe under the paper towels, the temp reader spiked to a whopping 98F!!!

I don't want to burn him, but I also want an accurate read so the pad can regulate correctly. How do you guys go about this?

P.S. Also, I've been really bad about scrubbing his cage. I always take out poop the same day, and I change his water pretty consistently, but actually washing the glass always gets pushed back another week. How often do you all scrub/clean the whole cage, and how important is it to the health of the gecko?

P.P.S. His moist hide is just a tupperware with the lid on bottom and a doorway cut in the side, and I line a few layers of wet paper towels on the ground (lid). Is this acceptable? He's been having trouble shedding his nose/face the last few sheds.

THANK YOU!!!

 

[JessJohnson87]

I have the probe to the thermostat taped to the tile inside of the warm hide, that way the probe does not get moved. The moist hide is fine, I use tupperware and moss in mine and spray it every couple of days and heavily spray around the time of the shed to create more humidity. I use tile in my tank so I take the piece that he poops on out and clean it with dish soap and put it back once it's dry. You can do weekly cleanings of the tank with a damp paper towel or monthly deep cleans with dish soap and warm water.

 

[J&M UNE]

The tstat prob should be attached outside of the tank directly the the heat pad...for one you get the best control of the heating pad..for two yo avoid any way for the the prob to get moved or say water spilled on to get false reading and running way hotter than you need..possibly causing harm to you're animal or worse starting a fire . what I do is tape prob to my heat pad (heat tape in my case) and then set the tstat a few degrees night then what I actually want the hot spot to be.. I use a temp gun to check the hotspot and I adjust accordingly.

Sent from my Z936L using Tapatalk

 

[indyana]

I also attach the probe to the heating pad outside the cage. I then use an infrared temp gun to check the surface temperatures inside the cage and adjust the thermostat until I get the inside steady at the temperature I want. This requires a bit of tweaking throughout the year as the house temperatures change, but it keeps the temperature very steady.

Putting the probe inside the cage allows the thermostat to control to the in-cage temp, but it also causes temperature swings. The greater the separation between the heat pad and the probe, the wider the temperature swings.

 

[JessJohnson87]

Not trying to hijack but indyana and J&M UNE you guys solved my heat pad dilemma that I'm currently having! Thank you.

 

[indyana]

Made the same mistake when I started out. I had the probe inside the cage and would get frustrated that the temp varied widely when the thermostat was supposed to be accurate to 2 degrees... lol

As for the other questions in the original post:

- I remove poop every other day in my setups without substrate. I wash the floor and change the paper every 3-4 weeks, depending how well my geckos do at keeping their poop in the poop corner. I try to put an extra folded paper towel or a tile in their bathroom corner so the paper stays cleaner longer, but it doesn't always work. Clean furniture every 1-2 months, as needed to remove poop accidents. Completely scrub and disinfect all cage furniture a couple times a year.
Keep in mind this schedule is for healthy animals, tested clear of parasites. You'll have to clean more often if dealing with sick animals or if you are treating for parasites. Animals in quarantine period get everything scrubbed and disinfected once a month.

- It can be very difficult to keep paper towels moist enough, as they dry out very fast. You'll have to spray frequently, especially when the house air is dry. I use Eco Earth (fine coco fiber), and that tends to stay damp longer. I spray every couple of days and mix as needed to keep uniformly cool/damp feeling.

 

[Leo]

Flipped on its side so you can critique my placement. I never even considered taping it to the heat pad, but now it seems like a no-brainer. I am concerned about estimating the surface temp as I do not own an infrared gun. There is a pet store near where I live that has a herp expert, maybe I could ask him to let me borrow his as I'm sure he owns at least one. Right now I have the stat set to 93F but I'll probably have to increase that to reach the paper towel.

Leo thanks you all!!! He's a picky eater who much prefers plain Dubias to dusted ones. I try to get all his nutrients in him but it's a struggle. I wish his skin turned a different color when he was deficient!!

 

[J&M UNE]

Looks good to me the only thing I could suggest is using aluminum vent tape instead of duck tape handles heat alot better. Most hardware stores carry temp guns for not to much.

Sent from my Z936L using Tapatalk

 

[indyana]

I'd suggest getting a temp gun when you can save up some money. EXTREMELY useful tool for reptile keepers.

If you can find one of those little digital temp monitors with a probe, you can use that until you are able to get a temp gun. Laying the probe on the floor inside the cage will give you a rough temp.