why is my leo soaking in his water dish?

[luminarydays]

hi, all.

my 1 year-old leopard gecko (theo) has lately been soaking in his water dish. it's been about a week consecutively that he's doing this. i've had him for about 3 and a half weeks now.

i am new to leopard geckos (and any reptiles, in fact) and recently i read that leopard geckos don't soak unless they're in pain. any advice would be appreciated because i want him to have a good life.

here are some of my concerns/questions:

-when i purchased him, his tail was in the process of growing back. it's about an inch long now. i feed him a little extra (mostly crickets dusted with calcium but occasionally mealworms) since he has no real tail to speak of. i feed him 6 crickets a day, and then every 2 days i don't feed him. he's quite large around the middle, but doesn't seem overweight.

-there appears to be some dried skin gathered on one of his toes. should i put him in warm water and try getting it off with a q-tip?

-the humidity in his enclosure fluctuates so much (average about 50%, which is too humid). would this have anything to do with his soaking in his dish?

-my biggest concern is that one of his back legs is either deformed or broken. it doesn't seem to bother him when i touch it (he just moves away slightly, which is normal for him as it happens whenever i touch any of his legs) but i'm still worried. it was like that when i purchased him, and the seller told me it was a deformity, and i'm not sure if i should be trusting that.

otherwise, he seems healthy. he eats plenty, drinks plenty, and is fairly active at night. his enclosure, a 10 gallon tank, has a heating pad on one side that stays on constantly as well as a ceramic heat bulb overhead that also stays on all the time. the warm side of his cage is usually in the 85-90F range, and the cool side is usually in the 83-85F range. i don't use special lighting for him, the light he gets is natural from the window above the tank. is this not good?
he also has one plastic humid hide on the cool side of his cage, a foam hide in the middle, and a plastic warm hide on the warm side. he spends the majority of his time in the cool humid hide and his 'restroom' is on the warm side. the substrate i use is paper towel, that i change completely about once a week and change the area of his restroom whenever he uses it.

he's also not skittish at all and enjoys crawling on my hands and arms. i'm just so worried for him and i'm worried that i'm messing everything up. any advice would be very much appreciated!!!

[Kirks_Herps]

Never heard of Leos soaking for pain. I believe that your gecko is soaking to cool off. In a ten gallon all you need is a heat pad. That should raise the ambient temp about 10 degrees unless it's cold then a heat bulb can be used. The heat pad, ceramic Bulb and heat from sun is too much shut off the ceramic Bulb and move him from the window.leos don't need sunlight they are nocturnal.

I fed all my Leos a staple diet of mealworms. It is important to gut load (feed) the mealworms. I used a product called "cricket gummies" what the mealworms eat is what the gecko eats . In the mealworms dish i put a 50/50 mix of calcium and vionate ( available at any pet store or online ) do not put straight calcium in with the mealworms it will suffocate them. Do put a small dish of calcium so the gecko can supplement it self.

The reason I went through all that is because your gecko doesn't have a deformity it has metabolic bone disease aka calcium difficency . Causing soft bone.The seller sold you a sick gecko

Get that shed off the toes or they will fall off
Humidity is very important for shedding mist the tank or keep a humid hide to aid in shedding

Hope that helps Kirk

[MrBeeBow]

Never heard of Leos soaking for pain. I believe that your gecko is soaking to cool off. In a ten gallon all you need is a heat pad. That should raise the ambient temp about 10 degrees unless it's cold then a heat bulb can be used. The heat pad, ceramic Bulb and heat from sun is too much shut off the ceramic Bulb and move him from the window.leos don't need sunlight they are nocturnal.

I fed all my Leos a staple diet of mealworms. It is important to gut load (feed) the mealworms. I used a product called "cricket gummies" what the mealworms eat is what the gecko eats . In the mealworms dish i put a 50/50 mix of calcium and vionate ( available at any pet store or online ) do not put straight calcium in with the mealworms it will suffocate them. Do put a small dish of calcium so the gecko can supplement it self.

The reason I went through all that is because your gecko doesn't have a deformity it has metabolic bone disease aka calcium difficency . Causing soft bone.The seller sold you a sick gecko

Get that shed off the toes or they will fall off
Humidity is very important for shedding mist the tank or keep a humid hide to aid in shedding

Hope that helps Kirk

Where can I find the "cricket gummies"?

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[Kirks_Herps]

well i made a slight type-o there they we actually called cricket yummies made by a company called ectotherm and i ordered them direct from the company. not sure if they are in business anymore. they were great because they were able to gut load the mealworms and act as a water source. there are many similar products out there if cricket yummies arent available any more.

Kirk