First for the heating question, I have my leopard gecko in a 20gal terrarium, I have two undertank heat pads, one underneath, and one on the back wall, on the same end as each other, and right above them, I have a 25W Sunglo bulb. I know it should be 40W, but my fixture says 25W maximum, and I haven't had a chance to get a new fixture yet. Anyway, that side of the tank has only gotten up to about 78 degrees, I can't get it any higher than that. Should I cover the screen on that half of the tank? That's the only solution I can think of, since it seems like maybe the heat is just going straight out instead of heating up the tank enough.
And for the poop question, How often should my gecko defecate, and after it dries out, is it supposed to be super hard? I cleaned up one turd with a plastic spoon and it sounded like I had a piece of glass rolling around in it.... is this normal?
Obviously, I'm new to this....
Thanks all
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Heating and Poop question
Replies (2)
The undertank heating pads don't put alot of heat in the air, just surface temperatures. Are you measuring what the temp is on the surface above the bottom heating pad or are you measuring the air above it? I really don't think the heating pad mounted on the side is going to help much in raising the temperature. It probably be better to get a better light fixture and set up a basking spot over a flat rock or wood, to hold the heat. Use a digital thermometer with probe to measure the surface temperature on the rock or ontop of the heating pad. Or, you can use a temp gun to measure surface temps as well.
As for the poop question, I am not sure exactly how often leopard geckos poop, but once a day or once every other day should be normal. It will dry up hard if left in the tank long enough as well. If fresh, and is already hard, would be an indication your gecko is not getting enough water and could be dehydrated.
Great Thanks a lot. Apparently I was only measuring the air temp with the thermometer. Useless thing.... Gecko is doing fine, and the substrate is significantly warmer on that side than the other side. They rarely go on the cool side at all. I suppose they just need to keep warm. It's a bloody cold winter here afterall.
