Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,
We have a question about our two geckos who are two years old: we've read in a lot of places leos need UVA and UVB; is it better to buy a lightbulb that emits these two lights, or just to take our leos outside at dusk at least once or twice a week? How much 'sunlight' do they need?

Also, if we use the lightbulb, should we take their calcium/vitamin D dish out? (Can leos 'overdose' on vitamin D?) They already have calci-sand substrate.

We would appreciate your help.

K&E

no lighting is needed, it actually just seems to annoy them, as they are nocturnal. leave the calcium/vitamin d bowl in.
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That's what we've been hearing a lot, too, but when the regular incandescent bulb we'd been using went out for good, as we woke up, both our geckos were still out of their hides; it was already noon, we thought, shouldn't they be 'in bed' already? Their schedule seemed messed up. Since not much light shines in our house, we thought we'd depend on the bulb to keep up their circadian, so we got another incandescent. Now we're thinking of getting a UV bulb to replace the incandescent, because when we just happened to take them out for a 'walk' at dusk once, we noticed their skin turned bright yellow-orangish within seconds, and they seemed more active then and the next few days. Some people at ReptileRescue said UV bulbs isn't necessary, but can be good for their skin and calcium absorption; since neither of them is a big eater (hence does not get much vitamin D supplement by ingestion), do you think the UV bulb is still extraneous?

Tks for your help.

i think if you want to use a bulb, you should use a nocturnal bulb. personally i like the UTH the best, and i think most people here would agree. i don't think UV does geckos very much good, it'd be like putting a UV with a snake.
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your head will collapse, but there's nothing in it, and you'll ask yourself, "where is my mind"

if you have AIM, IM me at iluvblackfrancis

Also, my boyfriend works for a lab that studies leopard gecko reproductive behavior (that's where we got ours), and the lab uses fluorescent UV in the keeps. Could this simply be a matter of conditioning and habit for the geckos?

if you want to light tthem buy a fixture from home depot with a regular bulb. 6 bucks that will be more than sufficant