Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone. so heres the deal. i just got a great young adult female yesterday. i thought i had everything ok to go but not im worrying about my tank heat. first and foremost im worried its not getting hot enough during the day. and secondly im worried that im not getting a good enough temp difference between day and night and its stressing my girl. so heres whats up.

i live in southern california so days here (right now) are like 70-80 degrees and the nights get to like 65 or so.

right now what im using for heat it a zoo med incandesent 50 watt "nocturnal infrared heat lamp" which i have been leaving on all day/night, and at night angling it so the light isnt going straight down into the sand.

now during the day its 90 or so under the lamp but what worries me is all around the rest of the tank my 2 thermometers im using to watch right now read 75 (end with lamp) and 72 other side.

here are my thoughts.

get a more powerful daylight lamp and softer night lamp
get a thermostat to control heat levels

but im not sure exactly what to do. she hasnt been very active.hiding even during night, and i know, its only been one day here so shes probably still freaked out and maybe thats it. she did eat tonight. but i figured hey. i might as well see what your guys imput is on it, and more than anything i want her to be happy. so let me know what you all think. thanks alot!

eric

Hey Eric( we got the same name!)

I just use a zoo med UTH and i also use a Red Nocturnal viewing light also made by zoomed. All i do is pull the red light out during the day and stick a soft white light in and pull the light a little closer towards the bottom of the tank...I get the warm side to reach about 90degrees. I am not too sure what the other side is cause at the moment i only have one thermostat but my Brand new Gecko(just like you) seems to enjoy the habitat just fine!

Hopes this helps,
Eric
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Dog-Molley
Brand new Leo-Doory

Make sure that you are measuring the temp on the ground of the cage. The air temp will always be lower then the ground temp. In my setup the air temp is between 70 and 75 degrees whereas the ground temp is between 80 and 90 degrees. To get these temps all I use is a UTH and an infrared light during the day and just the UTH at night and it is not even on full power.

Jessica

ok so i have one thermometer set up about 1/2 to 1 in MAX above the ground on the lamp side. (becuase i figured this would give me a reasonable reading as to how hot the air at her level would be ya know) and one actually just on the ground on the cool side. im getting like 76-78 max on the hot side and like 72-75 on the cool. so yeah, i dunno.