Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just purchased a temp gun, only to find out that the temp in my daughters 10 gallon tank which is home to just one is too hot...we are using a light fixture that clamps to the top of the tank...with a 75 watt reptile light...I tried replacing with a 60watt regular household lightbulb, it was too cool(possibly because it was a soft white type lightbulb)...before I run to the store can anyone tell me what watt regular household lightbulb (not soft white) will get the temp correct...I have no way to move the light further away...and cannot use heat pad since we use paper towels as substrate...thanks in advance

Well to be perfectly honest lights aren't what you really should use. The Leopard Gecko is nocturnal and it digests its food during the night. They need some where around 88ºF to digest their food properly. An UTH with a thermostate or Heat Tape with a thermostat is probably your best bets. heres a great site on how to set up heat tape: www.mgreptiles.com and there are also thermostates and i think UTH there also.

give me a minute to finish ripping my hair out...and I thought I did plenty of reading before the purchase...can heat tape be used with paper towel substrate...

most uth are ok to use with paper towls because thats what i use for lining as well, and i've had no problem even with the simple ones they sell at petco and what not, and so far none have gone to hot and none are on a thermostate, correction now they are becasue i've switch to tape. But u can use a UTH for leos even if they are on paper towls, of course someone could prove me wrong.
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Leo Gex
1:3 noramls or hi-yellows
1:0 Giant normal phase het for temper albino
1:1 Temper albinos
2? Tangerine
0:1 Blizzared
1:0 patternless
Others:
1 giant day gecko
1 Giant plated lizard
1:1 dogs
and 2:0 chinchillas

I would use a thermostat because sometimes UTH's overheat. I would use one if it was on paper towel because when i measured what just the place glass was it was about 100 something and thats too hot, even with an inch of sand an 1/4 of an inch of tile it stays at a constant 92 degrees, i check it everyday with one of those infarred temperature guns. But yes heat tape is ok to use with paper towels, but you MUST get a thermostat for it.

I use UTH without thermostat (its too expensive here in Argentina). So far my air temperature is about 81-88F and my belly temp 85-90F.
ps. paper towel

Any heating element needs to be used in conjunction with a thermostat or at least a dimmer. You will be fine using paper towles.. I personally hate heat lamps. Of course there are times when they have to be used, like a diurnal animals cage or having your room temps below that of what the animal needs and having to use one to raise the ambient temp inside the cage. If you want something simple and "prefab" go with an exo-terra 8x8 in that 10 gallon and it should be fine. You might want to cover part of the lid to keep the heat in.. Hope this helps,
-MG
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www.mgreptiles.com
CBB Herps and Heating Supplies