gecko info needed.

[rouxel]

im a little confused on the habits of the gecko. since they are nocternal do they like to sleep at about 85F or should it be 85F when the are awake at night. my gecko has been sleeping all day and i was wondering if it was because it was to hot or he is just tired. he dont like to come out of his cave at all. he spent all his time in there since about 10:00 am this morning and he is still in there and it is currently about 2:00 am i seen him come out once to eat. is it maybe because he is dehydrated. so what are should the temp be at night when he is awake. i thought that if it was to hot he would move to the other side of the tank where it would be cooler cuz there is no heat lamp over there. could he be hiding becasue he is in a new environment cuz i just bought him?

[BoidsUnlimited]

You mentioned a heat lamp...I would reccomend a heat PAD. He is probably inside cause of the light.

I would have a hot and cool side as well. Say about 85-70

[rouxel]

i have on of those heat lamps that are supposed to simulate the moon. and its dicected to the one side of the tank. so i thought that it would make only the one side hot

[BoidsUnlimited]

well it will regulate alittle bit.

Simulate the moon eh? NEver heard of that. What color is it....

IMO heatpads are the way to go with Leos

[lifeline]

Give him some time to adapt the heat does not matter so much each leo has there own preference on how much heat they need. He is in his hide most likely because the leo is in a new enviorment and not sure of its surroundings yet. give your leo some time and I am sure it will come out more often after it becomes more familiar with its new home.


thanks mike
leopardgecko.ca

[rouxel]

maybe ill pick one up tommorow for him. im not to sure what kind of light it is but the side says its supossed to simulate the color of the moon. its kinda a blueish color but i think u might be right its alittle to bright and it might be becasue the temp is about 83 in there right now. should i lower it to the mid 70's?

[lifeline]

one side should be about 85 the cool side should be closer to 70.
I agree with boids unlimited remove the lamp and get heat pad for your tank.


thanks mike
leopardgecko.ca

[BoidsUnlimited]

no 83 is okay...just have it cooler on another side incase he gets too hot. thats why i like heatpads..can keep one side hotter than the other easier

[Tim and Julie B]

This site does have some care sheets. If you look at the home page, the top left hand side with the directory has a caresheet link. www.newenglandreptile.com This should help you out:) This is also good, and is found as the second post on this leo forum.
www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=50109 (http://)

Julie

[beanersmysav]

When I moved my male to his own enclosure he did not become active untill very early in the AM like 4-5 AM but when he was with the females as soon as the lights were out they were all out and about hunting and breeding. Probably just the change he's gone through, or maybe he's just late to come out.

My male crested isnt usually active untill 2-3 AM except now since I added my female he's chasing her around come 12 AM

[peterm15]

the light she is talkin about is a black lighl....Moon-Glo by exo terra... leos (along with alot of lizards that ive read about) dont see that wavelength of light or the wavelength gven off by the red bulbs... so it will not inturrupt the day night cycle..

i have a heat pad on 24/7 and a low wattage bulb on the same side to give the proper night drop....

try to get a non-stick heatpad...ive heard about them but i made the mistake and got a sticky one they really dont stick that well...

maybe someone here can help you with what heat pad to get

[rouxel]

thanks for the help. im going to go buy a heat had right now and should i just get a reg light bulb or go with a heat one still. what about a black light for night. are those alright?

[peterm15]

the best is prob just to turn off all ights at night..... and leace the heat pad on... the bulb you have can be used day or night so just dont spend money to replace it just yet.... work on the temps close to the ground and you should be fine... it would be nicve to see a pic of your setup to see if anyone can give you any help on trying to make him come out more...

do you handle your leo...

[rouxel]

i dont handle him a hole lot right now becasue he is jsut a baby. i will get pics up asap. maybe later today. do the loe's glow if there is a black light over the cage and is it safe becasue it would be neet to see them at night if they glow

[rouxel]

i have a heat pad now but the temp is to hot. i just checked the temp and its pushing mid 90's so i turned it off becaseu thats way to hot. where can i go to buy a dimmer swich. how do u hood it up the the dimmer switch. is there a certain one the plugs into the dimmer switch the plugs into the wall or does it involve a hard wire where u have to wire it up urself?

[peterm15]

it depends on how much money your willing to spend... you can always get a rehostat ( zoo med i think) which will regulate temp.... you have to hard whire it yourself...
heres a link to wiring...

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60992


you can get dimmers at hardware stores wallmart ect.ect. there not much money but if you do decide to go that route you make sure you get a push button one...

which heat pad did you get???

[peterm15]

sorry for the second post but which pad did you get??? after saying yours got way to high i had to doubble chech mine... and its fine... 72-75 cool side and 84-89 warm... do you have a substrate if so how much of it... heat pads are made to go under substrate...outside the tank of course...

[rouxel]

i have a eco terra heat wave. self-adhensive.

[rouxel]

someone told me that a dimmer switch for the heat pad would burn it out but if everyone else has them and they dont burn out then ill get one. and jsut for the record they like it cooler when they are awake during the night right?

[peterm15]

yup... night time drop

[LISA127]

I have an undertank heat pad on 24/7. In the winter I add a 40 watt nocturnal heat bulb for during the day. It's turned off at night. During the summer the heat pad is all I use.

[rouxel]

my heat pad is to hot tho. its gets to 95F and i dont no how to turn it down. im not so good with electricity so im having troubles trying to make the heat pad stay at a constant heat.

[peterm15]

which pad are you useing... i still cant believe it gets that hot... and do you have substrate...

[Tim and Julie B]

Many heat pads can exceed 95dgrs. You could try one of these though:)www.petsandponds.com/securestore/c219181p16456290.2.html

This company is great to deal with and shipping is cheap to free!

Julie

[Mystic Lizzards]

dimmers are very easy to use(i have all my lights and heat tape on them so i don't need extre stuff)and if you don't know how to hook it up ask at any hardware store they usaly can show you how.

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

Well this is my two cents LOL

I use:
Hagen 27 Gal Tank (Long) (36"x12"x15")
Hagen 36"x12" Screen
Flukers Washable Terrarium Substrate Repta-Liner 36"x12"
EXO-TERRA Heat wave under tank Heating Pad 11"x17"
ESU 20" Reptile Bi-Light 2 Ballast (with 2 separate power cords, 1 for each bulb)
EXO-TERRA Reptile Bulbs Day-Glo Daylight PT-2110 (A-19/60w)
EXO-TERRA Reptile Bulbs Night-Glo Moonlight PT-2126 (A-19/50w)

I have the whole setup on timers, one timer for the left powercord, the night "Blue" bulb, and the other timer for the right powercord, that has the day bulb. The timers run 8am to 8pm for the day, 8pm till 8am for the night bulb.

Keep in mind that there are different kinds of bulbs. Some are concentrated beams, and others look like regular bulbs. I use the general area bulbs, not the concentrated beams.

The heating pad is mounted on the right side underneath, and I've had no problems with the glue coming undone, and I've had the tank setup for almost 2 years.

My geckos are out at different times of the day, but basically within 2 hours of the lights going out they are roaming. (Example, its 9:45pm, my male has been out and about and looking for the females for an hour easily.)

With the bulbs, gauge the bulb strenght by the size of your tank and how far the ballast is from the top of the tank too. My ballasts are mounted on "Concrete board" that is used as backing for fireplaces. It absorbs/holds heat in and the whole works sits on the screen.

This is an old pic, I've changed the internal setup a bit, but the tank itself is the same.

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

LOL Oops, here's the pic LOL

[JVG]

i used to have one of those exo terra night glo bulbs, when i first got my leos and they didnt seem to like it, then i switched to just a blue bulb from hd and they liked that even less then i just put a normal black light on em and now they are really active all night , i didnt read through some of this post so i dont kno if it was mentioned but u could possibly try electrolyte drops in there water, gets em movin and eatin.

[peterm15]

the regular black lights may harm your lizard.. so ive heard... do a search theres a post somewhere on here about it