Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello folks,

I am fairly new here at the Forum and have a few questions.

I have 3 young leo's housed in a 30 gallon glass tank (36"L X 12"W X 16H).

I am not exactly sure of my gecko's ages but that will be another question i will ask once i measure and weigh them. (i have had them less than 2 weeks). not to mention that there age has nothing to do with my question but i tend to ramble on about things according to the observation of others.

Anyways...... I am a little confused about the correct temperatures for my enclosure. i have a 10" X 12" or so UTH at the left end of the tank along with a "hot hide". in the center of the tank i have a "humid hide" with moss that i mist once or twice a day. an the right side is the cool side, also where i keep the food and water. my substrate is slate tiles. i also use a clamp lamp and a 60 watt "dayglo" bulb for daytime and a 75 watt "night glo" for night.

ok...... at first i just had a couple of those stick on thermometers in my cage and i was pretty comfortable with that but then i started reading more about leo's online........then i found a forum, then another, then another...........and *****BANG***** INFORMATION OVERLOAD!!!! UNAVOIDABLE MELTDOWN TO BEGIN IMMEDIATELY!!!

The recommended temps for leos that are floating around the net are many and some vary considerably. This was the begining of my deeply seated paranoia that my little friends were too hot......... or maybe they are too cold??? i better get another thermomter......yup and maybe an exrtra one with one of those neet probes so i know the temp of the inside of the hide. 5 thermometers later (no joke) I realize that i am so obsessed with the temperature i think i forgot what the geckos looked like. but i did learn alot about how much the temp can vary in such a small place. hence i am worried that my "gradient" might be just a little too wide for my geckos since the seem to only come out of the hot hides to eat drink and poop and run right back into the heat.

here are my latest temp readings: room temp is always between 68 and 72

DAYTIME:

hot side....inside hide is 90 to 95 on the floor....outside hide is 88-90 on the floor....air above hide is 82-86.

inside humid hide is 78-80

cool side is 70-72

NIGHT TIME:
hot side....inside hide is 86 to 89 on the floor....outside hide is 83-85 on the floor....air above hide is 82-86.

inside humid hide is 77-79

cool side is 68-70

I alway keep the lamp in the middle of the cage (pretty much above the humid hide). and i also have a repti temp reostat to adjust the UTH or the lamp or both i am just not sure where to set it at.(i have been leaving it on high)

please help calm my nerves and give me some idea where to start my adjustments, and which of my temps seem out of whack with an opinion on how i might fix.

Thank you,

Jason

Hi

The basking end of your tank should be between 88 to 90 degrees. That 95 degree temp. that you said that one hide gets up to would be to hot. If you don't already, you should have the humid hide in the basking area.

The cool end of the tank can just be as cool as it gets, because the idea of a basking end and a cool end is so that a gecko can go to the cool end if too hot and the warm end if to cool, thus thermoregulating it's own body temperature.

Geckos have been known to get there stomaches burned on heat rocks, so you may want to take that into consideration with the one you have.

Take Care, TLB

mine goes 90 hot end...86 in the middle...and 80 in the cool end...but this is cuz i use sterilites and can't create a very wide temp gradient...other than that...i think ur doing fine...if the geckos eat well and seem to be active and alert...they should be doing great...
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"you won't know success if you haven't failed..."-eric chen
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