Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Howdy, everyone. I've read both the old and the new forums, and I've decided that you folks are pretty much completely awesome. Take that compliment and run with it. Or do something else with it. It's entirely up to you.

Anyway, I just got a leo for my very own. Her name is Trogdor the Burninator (she likes to be called Burny), and she's a 4-inch, vicious killin' machine. Anyone who says different will meet their destruction, or, at the very least, will be ferociously licked on the finger tip. She seems to like doing that. But she likes it with an evil slant. Totally wicked, she is.

I guess what I want to do is tell you what I've got going currently and ask some questions about what I should be doing or could possibly do in the future. Here goes nothing...

I've got a 10 gallon tank with slate tiles. On the cool side, I have a simple arch-style hide, a small dish of calcium powder (JurassiCal) and a slightly larger dish of filtered spring water In the middle, I have an even larger clear dish of mealworms (crawling around in a thin layer of the calcium with a dash of JurassiVite). On the warm side, I have a thin, flat rock that I scrubbed, rinsed, soaked in diluted bleach, re-rinsed, re-scrubbed and re-re-rinsed that holds heat pretty well and a plastic thingy that used to be part of an ice maker as a humid hide. I don't have an UTH yet, but justcage should be getting a call from me tomorrow. Right now, I just have a heat lamp, but the tank stays within the correct temperature ranges.

Okay...as for what I need to do. I'm switching to the UTH simply because it's accepted as better for the lizard. I'll probably switch to a lower watt bulb so I don't over-heat the tank. Good idea or no?

The humid hide...man, that whole concept is destroying me. What I'm using right now is sort of a plastic cave with a wide opening and a spout on the top. I've got plain white paper towels blocking the spout, and I pour small amounts of spring water in there to re-dampen the towels. Is that acceptable? Are there any good commercial humid boxes? Does anyone have a concise (like I really have any right to demand concise) yet detailed description of how to fabricate one?

I've got more, but it can wait.

Its really so nice to get new people on the community who have done the research before they got the pet. I can't commend you enough for that. Also thanks for the very good post, giving the info on husbandry before asking, why won't my gecko eat?
To address your questions- you will probably find that with a UTH you don't need any heat bulbs at all. you may opt for a blue-light bulb for your viewing pleasure. Most humid hides, and really the best and easiest are made from those cheap one-time-use plastic ziploc or gladware containers with an access hole cut in the side and some sort of moist meidium inside. You seem to have done the research, so you decide what medium you'd like to use.
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1.0 Blizzard Bill
1.0 Hypo stripe, Het Rainwater from JL (BJ)
1.0 HypoTang from Crested (Apricot)
1.0 Tremper Albino (Cloud)
0.2 Hi-Yellow Leopard gecko (Beatrice, Pepper, Goldie-now w/SD)
0.1 Normal (Freckles)
0.1 SHCT Leopard Gecko (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko (Rainbow)
0.1 Tremper Albino (Leucy)
RIP Peaches, Ghost
3 eggs a-cookin'

hey congrats, and welcome. i agree with geckogrl6 about the humid hide, i made mine out of a gladware plastic container thing and just cut a hole in the side and put a good humidity holding form of substrate, i originally used bed a beast but moved to paper towels because it was a lot cleaner. Ive read about both and had people tell me that both are acceptable, its just for my application paper towels were easier. the only thing i would do with the humid hide would be to light a match and kinda burn down the edges you make when you cut the gladware container so its not sharp or rough, so you dont run the risk of your gecko getting injured. Good Luck!! and WELCOME!