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I like the way you constructed your enclosure. My questions are:

1) Do you have any heat from teh bottom of each enclosure?
2) How do you control the temp?
3) How hot do the under shelf lights get?
4) Is there a glass under your substrate or just the board?

Thanks for the answers in advance...

Posted by: benzman1 at Tue Aug 17 01:18:40 2004 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

I like the way you constructed your enclosure. My questions are:

1) Do you have any heat from teh bottom of each enclosure?
2) How do you control the temp?
3) How hot do the under shelf lights get?
4) Is there a glass under your substrate or just the board?

Thanks for the answers in advance

There is no extra heat other than the 10 watt halogen lights in each unit. The temp under the light hits 100-110. The cool side gets to mid 70's. Nothing under the substrate, just tile & sand or in one set I have just the sand (about 1/8". The lowest temps stay pretty much around low / mid 70's because of the room temps. I did have the lights on a dimmer to control the temp but I found the temp is ideal without the dimmer.

Isn't 100-110 kind of hot? I thought that the ideal temp is 78 - 85

100 - 110* is not unusuall for temps in the middle east(leo's native habitat). That temp is directly under the light, within about 2" the temp is around 93*, opposite side of cage is usually about 72 - 75*. If you want lower temps on the hot side you could hook the lights to a dimmer. I had one, I like the temp gradient (and they seem to also). They will crawl under the light for a few minutes then wonder under the ledges or where ever to thermoregulate. It is most important that the geckos have the choice of the best temp for themselves.