The Leo Home is ready

[Jay_Bunny]

Well I have set up the leo tank just the way I want it when the lizard comes home. I do have a question but that's at the end. Here is a list of things I have. PLEASE let me know if there is anything else I need to get, or anything I don't need.

1 29g Tank
1 Screen Top
2 Thermometers (with probes)
1 Coconut Shell Hide
1 Bag of Sphagnum Moss
1 Calcium/mealworm dish (Its a dish that has two dishes side by side)
1 Shallow Water Dish
1 Half Circle Log Hide
1 Fake Plant
1 Piece of Cage Carpet (appropriate size)
1 T-Rex Leopard Gecko Dust (for crickets and mealworms)
1 Rep-Cal Phosporous Free Calcium with Vit. D Powder
1 150w Lamp (its able to hold 150 watts.)
1 100w Bulb for Lamp

Do I have everything? My one question is about the bulb. I just read the caresheet on this forum and it says that leopard geckos need a warm side of 88. The girl at the store said they need 115. :eek: Is that too much heat? I got the lamp and bulb anyway, but someone please tell me what they really need. Right now I have one lamp for the hot side, one for the cold. The warm side bulb is a 100w (for a 29g tank) and the cold side bulb is a 50w bulb. The 50w bulb can put out enough heat to warm up one side of a 29g tank up to 80. Someone please tell me what I need to do as far as heating. The girl at the store also told me that all day-time lights (which is what both of mine are) need to go off at night. Temps drop to around 68-70 at night. Right now in my snake's cage he only has one heat source that puts his warm side up to about 85. The cool side has no lamp and is sitting at 71. I would say average temp in this room, 69-71. What do I need to do?

[PythonWallace]

115 is way too high. 88 max. And the lights need to go off at night. The night time temp can drop as low as 65, but I never let it go below 72.

[mlededee]

you want the cool side to be 78-80 and the warm side to be 88-90. it is not necessary to drop the temperatures at night. 65 is way too cold for a leo--even if you do a night drop i wouldn't let it get below 78 throughout the cage. unless you are breeding there is no reason to drop temps at night, and even when i bred i didn't drop the temps because my leos didn't require the stimulation of temp and light changes.

return the daylight bulbs and get red (infrared) or nighttime bulbs. you can use them 24-7 with no ill effect on your gecko because they cannot see the light that these bulbs emit. get one that will heat the cool side to 78-80 and one that will heat the warm side to 88-90.

[Jay_Bunny]

I thought it was too much. When she said 115 I was like "What?"

I'll return the bulbs and get the infared ones. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

But other than that, is everything else ok?

[Kristy]

I would go with a thermostat and undertank heater over the lamps. Leos need belly heat and I found it really hard to get consistant temps on the warm side with heat lamps.

Also, Remember they can overdose on D3. For my adult females I use Pure Calcium on feeders for two weeks and the use d3 for one feeding.

For hatchlings I use Calcium for every feeding and d3 once a weeks instead of every two weeks because they are growing still.

Then keep a dish of pure calcium in the cage.

[Jay_Bunny]

I have a UTH, but no thermostat. I plan on getting the thermostat next month and switching over to it.

[Jay_Bunny]

I got the right bulb and the temps are good. I went to the reptile show this morning (going back because fiance wants a snake). I got a beautiful girl. She is a hypo tangerine. Her name is Chibi.

Here are a few pics before I got her all settled in.

[rabernet]

She's beautiful! How old is she?

[Jay_Bunny]

Not sure how old. The man didn't give me a hatch date. Now that I think about it, I should have asked. She's chilling in her cage right now. She's not really using either of her hides. Instead she's resting outside of them. Is this a sign of stress?

[ReptileMan27]

Do you have an under tank heater?, belly heat is most important for leos, its helps with digestion etc.. Lights can be used as additional heating if needed but shouldnt be the main heat source for leos. Otherwise it looks like you have everything