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.