Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone! A friend of mine recently purchased a golden gecko...we had him temporarily housed with a green anole...he now has his own cage/setup and we're curious about a few things...

we put the expandable substrate in and it retains moisture well but it's cold to the touch...is this going to be an issue in the future for the gecko's health??

also we have a heat-pad on one side of the tank...i'm not very familiar with them and personally don't like them very much...but anyway it seems to retain about 74 degrees on that side of the tank...i'm assuming this isn't a sufficient heating source...correct??

We put a desk lamp atop the cage/setup to make an attempt to provide some sort of heat in the cage...he seemed to stay attached to the top of the cage lid the entire nite (I'm assuming he was basking under what light we provided)...do we need a incandecent bulb for him as well? (75 watt/small light fixture for example)

We were told that this specific breed of gecko doesn't need a heat lamp...is this correct?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!!

THANKS~!!~

-S1N

Temps for these guys usually need to be kept between 70-85*F, so 74 is just fine, just make sure you spray the cage down with water at least once a day.
As for the heat lamp/UTH(heat pad) issue, I prefer to use a heat lamp over the UTH. I've heard that UTH's, without something on it to control its temp. can get hot spots. That, and I'd imagine the glass is a lot hotter then 74 where the UTH is if it's getting the entire tank that temp.
It's not that the species doesn't need a heat lamp, its because you're using the UTH that you don't need both the heat lamp and the UTH. Many people use heat lamps with goldens.
The substrate is cold because the UTH is on the side, there is usually not heat source on it and it's wet. That's why I prefer a heat lamp, it keeps the entire cage, including the substrate warm.
He's probably sitting under the heat lamp because either the cage is too cold and the area of the heatpad is too hot(IMO).
If it was me, I'd ditch the heat pad and get one of the nocturnal heat lamp blubs(they are either red or blue) and use a heat lamp.

~Cro