Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok... yes I'm new to the whole Gecko thing but there is something i dont really grasp; I was reading the forums trying to get educated and came across a posting about thermostats. Im not really sure how they work and if one would be right for me. I currently have a 10 gal tank with a UTH and i run a 100 watt red light to maintain the temp during the night, during the day i have a 100 watt light going. i have a thermometer on the warm side and know that my day temp's reach about 86-90, Night temps are a little cooler around 80 to 74 on the warm side of the tank, depending on the setting of the A/C. The question is... What is the purpose of the thermostat? Does it work with all UTH's? Do I need one? Im going to put my Blizzard gecko in a 20 Gal in two days because I'm going to get a female albino, and dont thing that the tank is big enough for them and want to provide a habitat that is right for them. Some post's say dont use a high wattage bulb for day heat source because it causes stress , some say use a regular bulb instead, I'm afraid that if i dont use a high watt bulb that I wont be able to keep the temp right on the warm side of the tank. Are there any suggestions/ advice that someone could offer?

You shouldn't have to use any lights at all if you are running the UTH all the time. UH's are usually way hotter than what you need them to be. Is the thermometer you use an air or a surface thermometer? If its air and you're getting a temp of 86-90 the surface is going to be way hotter than that. And yes lights usually do stress out a leopard gecko. Anyways a thermostat controls the temperature of whatever heating device it's connected to. There are many types but they all do basically the same thing. You set the temperature you would like your UTH to get to and the thermostat regulates the ammount of electricity going into the UTH so it only gets to that temperature. You can also buy lamp dimmers for alot less that achieve the same thing except you cant just set a lamp dimmer, you have to toy with it until you get it right. But more than likely yes you do need one or you can just increase the amount of substrate between the geckos and UTH until the temp is right. I can assure you that if you're running the 100W light and UTH you are cooking your geckos
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coheed196
1.1 raptor leos (dorito, sunshine)
0.1 beardie (scarlet)
1.1 veiled chameleon (cricket,penny)
1.1 panther chameleon (apollo, athena)
0.1 albino burmese (peaches)
1.0 pit bull (ajax)
0.1 pyrenees mix

Thanks for the advice and no i dont have a thermometer for the air, its directly above the UTH, I also have the light above that side this way i have a temp gradient form the warm to the cool side. Is this right or am I doing this wrong too? I dont have a substrate down because of all of the bad stuff I have read on it, I am using reptile carpet that i picked up from the pet store instead.

A 100W bulb is way too hot for Leopard Geckos, the highest I will go is 60W and that's during the winter. I don't know where you're located, but unless it's Alaska I think I'd lose the light. Especially if you've got a UTH running constantly.

-Patrick

Even if the light is a red light? What about the temp in the cage?

I use red lights as well but that wattage is extremely high. And if you already have a UTH running then that is all you need. The belly warmth is enough, the gecko will learn where to go for warmth, so heat from above is not necessary. Use a light, or a UTH, but definitely not both at the same time.

-Patrick