Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just have a few questions, I have a heat pad underneath the warm part of the tank as well as a Zoo-Med 60 Watt Blue Light Bulb, that will be kept on 12 hours a day. I am wandering what else I will need to know to keep my leo healthy, or anything I might need to know. He is in a 20 gallon tank.

Is reptile carpet ok for a substrate? Thats what I have down... Also is it good to get a piece of driftwood that would come within about 2-3 inches of the top so the lizard may bask? For my hide I use a hollow stump with peat moss inside and I spray the moss everyday

Can different geckos be kept together as long as they are male/female?

i recommend you get the leopard gecko manual its obvious you didnt research them before getting them.
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1.3 Leopard Gecko's
1.0 mali uromastyx
0.0.3 tokay's(adults unsexed)

I read it, but the questions I asked I didnt read, also is it good to leave the light off during the night as long as I keep the heat pad on?

that you didn't do enough research before you bought the gecko, I'll still answer your questions. I haven't been around the forum long enough to get annoyed by people not doing research before buying...yet. I'll try to answer them in the order you asked them.

Heat pad and a 60 watt bulb should be good. However, the heat pad should be put on a thermostat. Most petstores sell them now, they allow two devices to be plugged into it and have a temperature probe you place inside the tank. It also has a settable temperature, but you will have to monitor the temps for the first few hours with a thermometer (that should already be in your tank on the warm side) and make sure the thermostat is turning off and on and keeping the tank at the appropriate temp. MAKE SURE it doesn't get to hot over the pad and make sure there is air flow under the tank. I have my UTH (under tank heater) on 24/7 on the thermostat and I have my light on a timer that turns on at 8am and off at 10pm.

What else will you need to keep your leo healthy? Most of that should be covered in the Manual that you claim to have read. But here's a few to remember:
-Calcium supplied at all times in a shallow dish
-Hot side temp 85-90 cold side temp 75-80
-Dust food (crickets or mealworms most likely) with a vitamin supp. atleast every other day. I mix the suppliment with the calcium and leave it in all the time and just place new meal worms in it every night. Make sure the dish is tall enough that the food can't crawl out.
-Supply a humid hide on the hot side, and atleast one dry hide on the cool side, I have an extra dry hide on the hot side as well.
-If using crickets, take out any that the leo does not eat after about 15-20 minutes.
-Leos DON'T bask. They are a nocturnal animal, therefore, during the light hours, they will be in their hides sleeping and during the dark hours, they will be out and active.
-DO NOT house more then one male in a tank.
-DO NOT house the leo with other animals, most animals do not have the same environment requirements and can not be kept together, also, I've heard that it's just generally bad to mix different herps.
-The carpet you're using is fine, as long as you're feeding the leo from a dish. I've heard stories of leos getting their teeth caught in the carpet. Actually, I've heard of leos getting toes caught in it as well. I use paper towel, and plan to move to slate in the summer. Slate looks natural and is the closest to the leos natural habitat as you can get.

That's all I can think of for now. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on any of that. Hope that helped