Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone, I'm new to the Gecko world (dont have one yet but i have been reading on them for a year now. I have a 20 gallon high tank (what you would find at Walmart in a starter kit) and I do not know what type of heating would work best. Due to the inconsistant indoor temps I know I will need a two thermostats and two timers to regulate day and night heating/lighting cycles. 85F to 90 F is the correct hot side temp correct? I have heard several reviews of night time temps, ranging from 65F to 85F again (must be nice to live somewhere warm), so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Since the aquarium is tall, would it be benificial to build mountain platform to help provide more usable areas? I would like to end up with 3-4 Leos but I will start out with one or 2.

-------------------

This would be the general design
__________________ for the platform with hide boxes
/ built in under the ramps.
/
/
-------------------

Well, Im not sure of the dimensions on the tall tank, so what are they? If you are wanting to keep more than one, there is general rule with 10 gallons per leo, so if you want 3-4 you might want a larger cage, and you might want to get a long or breeder tank instead of the tall tanks since leos arent arboreal. And make sure that all of the leos are female if they are housed together, and not one male and one female becuase the male might overbreed the female, and stress her out too much. And not more than one male becuase they might end up fighting. And if you do have a male, and more than one female, be ready for eggs!! As for heating, I use a 75 watt night bulb for the nighttime and a UTH thats on all the time. The warm side of my tank is about 88-90 degrees. I use a regular household bulb during the day, but I will always use both a bulb and a UTH. Im not sure what watt bulb you'll need though, because that all depends on your house temps so it might be trial and error.