Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok i have a 10 x 16.5 x 13
im heating the right side with a heating rock and i have heat lamp also... should i keep lamp on or off? my gecko only seems to rest near the heating rock or in his cave on the far side.
i have an old fish tank that i use and it has a temperature gage on the outside and it says 72 degreese at the mo but im not quite sure as someone told me that they temperature will be cooler on the outside of the tank then on the inside.... so what do i do?

First of all get rid of the hot rock, they are very dangerous as they can overheat and scald your gecko. They can also crack under the heat and expose your gecko to the red hot metal inside. OUCH!

Use an undertank heater to create a warm belly spot with a hide over it so your gecko can hide in the cozy warm spot.

For many people an undertank heater is all they need, but it depends on your area and the temps in your house. Get a good reliable thermometer, either a digital one with a probe or a tempgun. The pet store thermometers can be very inacurate.

Hot spot should be 88-92degrees, ambient tmeps should be in the mid 80s.

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0.1 Bearded dragon (Hannabil)
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake (Morticia)
1.1.2 Leopard Gecko's (Pogo, Louise, Orion, Jeffrey Nothing)
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn (Autumn)
0.1 Bullmastiff (Asha)
4.1 Cats (Poe, Tucker, Abhid, Felicity, Emmy)

yea but the problem is that i dont have a correct thermometer... the guy at the pet store said that an aquarium one wont do... i have one now and its currently showing 78 degreese(on the outside) on the cold side...

also i dont have any tiles or the equipment to get something to heat the underside...

oh and my gecko usually likes to just rest beside the rock never on top of it like the crickets...
could i do with a hot lamp instead?