Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
I am a beginner in the reptile realm of pets and would like some insight on my setup. I am on a budget so i will be taking cheaper route's when i can. But I would like some suggestions or critique of the plans ive laid out for my soon to be Leopard friend.

I have an aquarium 24"L x 12"W x 15"H, which i will be using to enclose it. I will be using aquarium gravel to get the approximate height/terrain for the ground then use a Reptile Carpet over top of it for the floor. I have some rocks and ornaments for objects and will be creating some hide's out of plastic containers and also be using some type of lids for food dish/water dish. I will have thermometers on two places near the ground. One in the hot spot and the other on the cool side. Now for the tough part. For lighting/heating. I have a top for the aquarium that i will be modifying so i can have a fluorescent UV light and still have space for a Infrared Heat lamp. For bulbs im thinking a 75W Infrared due to the tank being tall.
As for the UV, I know they aren't 'needed' but are nice to have to help with day/night cycle and such. So there are 2 i was looking at, this actual reptile one, or a aquarium/plant one at Home Depot. Same Watts same size. the only difference i saw was Colour Temperature. Reptile = 6700K and AQ = 2700K. Im wondering if i could get away with the latter just cause of cost concerns and if not why would i use the more expensive.
For food i was thinking of feeding mealworms with supplements for calcium and other vitamins. I really don't like crickets and would like to avoid them if i can.

Thanks for reading the long message and thanks for your reply. I would really appreciate any words of wisdom and hope im on the right track.

crickets are better for leos because they are more nutritional. Yes, they are gross and smell weird, even bad, but they also allow the leos to hunt for their prey. I alternate between mealworms and crickets~meal worms mon. crickts wed. and so forth. They need a variety because they sometimes get bored. Be sure to have an under the tank heater and you won't need a bulb other than a 60watt soft white one~you know they come in pack 4 bulbs for a dollar. The bulbs give off a small amount of heat, but the heating pad does all the work and sets up the perfect temp. gradient. reguardless of the bulb you use, you NEED a heat pad. Watch what kind of bowl/lid you use for mealworms because they can pretty much crawl out of anything that has a little bit of texture or that is short. I think I have some pictures of my set-ups~all 8 of them!~ if you want to see them to get some ideas my e-mail is crazylove2731@hotmail.com
Hope this helps!

i do not use any heat bulbs because i find them ugly and somewhat stressfull to the geckos. my guys get the right day night cycle because of the window light outside. as for mealworms i do not use them, ever. i use strictly crickets. i have found that my babies grow twice as fast with crickets. i talk and listen to other peoples posts that feed only meal worms and from what i can tell my babies grow twice as fast!!! no joke! i dont know about using aquarium rocks, if for some reason the gecko gets under the carpet it could somehow ingest some rocks. also if you do use crickets they will hide under the carpet in the rocks and your geckos will never get to eat them. but you seem to have the right idea for setups and what not, your temps need to be at atleast 90 in the warm spot. good luck!

Thanks for the info guys. I have gotten my new baby gecko and he's so very cute. I did end up using a heat lamp and is working great for temperature and the gradient. I did use the carpet over aquarium rocks technique and i see what you mean by crickets hiding. So that may be something i change in the future but will just keep an eye on them while feeding time. For food i got both crickets and mealworms. I hope to use both to keep a little variance in its diet. So far so good.
However i find that he has been staying on the cool side and in the hide on that side as well the majority of the time. Temperatures are usually 90-95 in the hotspot, and 78-82 in the cold area. Is it possible he may just like it cooler or is there something wrong with my hot spot?