URI in Leopard Geckos?

[JasperRarity]

My friend is a real newbie in reptiles. She pretty much slipped up with everything possible in reptiles. Classic mistakes like trusting Petco for advice, and relying on them for legitimately everything.

One thing Petco told her was that she didn’t need a heat mat, and that a heat lamp was better. Well, a few weeks later, the gecko wasn’t eating and had something wrong with its stomach. I told her it was probably because she didn’t have a heat mat and therefore was causing digestion issues, but she told me that Petco said she didn’t need one so it must be true. Then, she proceeded to take the animal to Petco to see what was wrong with it and they took it to a dog/cat vet where they diagnosed it with URI.... is this reasonable for the symptoms?

I just feel like a heat mat would be a better solution to this problem. Since she won’t believe me, can you guys leave some advice that will hopefully help her truly understand what’s going on and have a successful journey with caring for her Gecko? Thank you in advance.

[savora]

Well, both a heat mat and a heat lamp will achieve the temperatures needed for a leopard gecko. The problem with both is that they need to be regulated, as leopard geckos need a hot spot of 90F-94F to digest properly, but both of them will heat the area up too much to be usable.

If the heat lamp is staying on all night, the leopard gecko isn't getting a good night's sleep. If the heat lamp is being turned off at night, it is possible that the leopard gecko is suffering from both too cold of temperatures at night and too high temperatures at day; this could cause a URI, as the leopard gecko's immunity system is probably shot at this point. That said, so is their digestion. (Also, this is why people often opt for CHE's instead of heat lamps in their leopard gecko's enclosure.)

But, just from reading this post, there's no symptoms of URI present. Excessive saliva, mucus from the nose, bubbles around the mouth/nose, and clicking when they're breathing are symptoms.

I recommend your friend read the caresheet on another forum, GeckosUnlimited, as it's full of gecko-lovers: http://www.geckosunlimited.com/commu...13-update.html