Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just thought of this as i was readin a gecko page if it can be cooler at night? then should i not have a light on my leo at night?(i use a black light at night) never thinking i probably heatin it up at night by using the light?

if you have a UTH then yes you can turn off the light. a temp drop at night is completely natural for the geckos and it should not bother them. my house isnt air conditioned, so in the summer i often just shut off the geckos heaters (uth and lamp) at night and let the tank drop to air temp (75-80).

ohhh ok great..i think i will wait till i get the digital thermometer before i shut off the UTH my house isnt air conditioned either and i face the sun all daybut i got no way to check temp or make sure its correct temp till i get digital therm next week

Do not shut off the UTH. If your house stays warm at night then you can shut off the light, not the UTH~under tank heater~ They still need the UTH in case they want to warm up.

hmmm which is it??? lol..i unplugged the UTH last night like darksky suggested and plugged it in this morning..mind u i still dont have a thermometer i going to go get one today probably ...i thought it was ok to have cooler temps at night?

can any one tell me which is the better advise to shut off UTH at night or not?

I leave my UTH and Ceramic lamp plugged in all the time but I've also hooked them up to a thermostat (roughly $35 or so from Petco). You should have the thermostat probe weighed down and in contact with the surface of the substrate.

This seems to be a good solution for the heat problem in case the room gets too warm. The thermostat is set to keep the warm side around 88 - 90 degrees all the time. If the room gets hotter than that then the UTH and ceramic lamp do not turn on and it gives your animals the best chance to keep reasonably cool in overly hot conditions.

I've heard that Leopard Geckos can tolerate a slight nighttime drop in temperature though my own experience is inadequate to answer this with certainty. I don't know if there's any benefit to deliberately cooling the tank at night. Maybe a bit more natural that way I guess.

Forgot to mention. If you use a thermostat then you should still try to check the hot side temperature of the tank daily. Thermostats have been known to fail on or off though this is generally rare.

I'd recommend using a digital thermometer. I place it together with the thermostat's heat probe so that I get a good idea of where to set the dial on the thermostat (it doesn't have it's own readout).

Even without a thermostat, it's still a good idea to use a digital thermometer on the hot side of the tank. I also use a 2nd digital thermometer on the cool side to see how the heat gradient is being maintained but I've heard this is somewhat optional provided your lamp and UTH are set up reasonably well.