[sajane]

I have an exo terra habitat. Usually I hang the lights above the cage. Does anyone know how many watts I can use if I rest the clamp lamp on the screen lid, before it does damage to the lid or the lizards?

[sajane]

Also, Can these panther geckos walk on the screen lid like house geckos or anoles?

[DanaD]

At this moment, I have an Exo-Terra terrarium with an 100w CHE and an 75w night-glo bulb on the screen lid, and it's ok. And no, they can't walk on the lid, up-side-down.
Personally, I wouldn't use that kind of enclosure for pictas. I noticed from mine that they are quite a "ground specie" - they do climb a little on logs and stuff like that, but they don't need tall branches and foliage.

[sajane]

its 18x18x18.I buired some hides and I .made levels of cocoa fiber. some climbing branches, which they love, and just a few plants for color.I will try to post some pics, Before I got this terrarium they were in a 10 gallon aquarium. They never left the branches! Im new to the species , but I did rescearch. I was surprised that they stayed above ground all day.In this new cage they go under during the day.

[sajane]

This is my set-up.

[sajane]

would a leopard gecko or american fat tail gecko be appropriate for a set up as above?

[DanaD]

I don't know about AFTs, but a leopard gecko definitely NOT! They are a desert species!

But I love your set-up! And if you say that the pictas are happy there, it's very good. As I told you before, I tried this kind of set-up with mine and they weren't so keen on tall branches unfortunately. But I guess every gecko has it's own personality....

[sajane]

They are babies and I have heard they climb more than adults. My temp gradient is 90 degrees at top on one end and 77 degrees at bottom on the other end. Should I alter that?

[tomek]

"eye friendly" set up!
.. but is this semi-desert environment, where wild pictas live?
They climb well, cause they're young, while getting older they will prefer ground.

77F ~ 25C, for me it's too low. Pictas need hot spot with at least 30C (86-90 F). maybe If your lizards climb high during the day (when nocturnal gekos usually rest hidden), that means it's too cold.
I would install the lamp inside the enclosure (its high enough), with less powerful bulb and ensure that temperature at ground level is appropriate.

[sajane]

Thats what i'm wondering about. The high spot is 93 degrees , the ground level is 77. So I should warm up the ground level . How high ? What is an appropriate living area for them ? I would like to make it perfect for them, I can put something else in that cage. I didn't consider that a desert set up but I guess i'm not clear on what they need. During my research I saw a lot of plain aquariums with nothing but a hide and paper towels as substrate.or rack systems. What else should I do to make it right?