Swisswiss's terrarium

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
......

Based upon these measurements, both leos should be eating daily.

Calypso
7.8 inches (20 cm) total length
42 grams

Roxanne
6 inches (18 cm) total
23 grams

......

in terms of supplements I have been lightly dusting with each feeding.... usually feed calypso a medium sized dubia and about 3 meal worms a day....Roxanne....what ever i can get in her to eat, but it hasn't been much as of late....

in fact today i squished a few meal worms powdered in supplements and gently scrapped some of the goo on her lips with an ear cleaner thing.... she liked it up but its obviously not ideal....Iv also caught her drinking directly out of the water bowl.....think thats pretty rare behavior to watch.....

anyway there you have it... could it be that since she threw up the dubia she is now "disgusted" or fearful of them?

Frequent drinking from the water dish could be a sign of dehydration or of too many supplements. Leos like to stay hydrated by licking the droplets from their humid hides. Occasionally drinking from their water dish is fine. :)

It might be too soon to cut back Calypso's feedings. You mention he weighs 42 grams. Fully grown "normal" male leos weigh more. Leopard geckos slow down their growth at about 1 yo. They do continue to grow until they are about 18 mo.

My female leo weighs 65.5 grams as of today. She is 9 inches total length.
 
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swisswiss

Member
Red heat bulb....

so after seeing my air/ambient temps in my terrarium consistently dropped to 19.4°C (67°F) I decided to take action and got myself two "infrared heating bulbs"

these seem to boost my air temps to about 78°F on the "start" of the cool side....and i think im pretty happy with that since it probably means that directly underneath it im touching the 90s....
in fact according to the analogical thermo/hygro im right in the 90s zone at roughly 10cm from the substrate surface....

now dont fear i have "re-tweaked" my heat mat thermostat so as not to grill my geckos and temp reading "on tile" are still in the 30-33°C area (86-91)...

these heat bulbs come on at 11 am till 3 pm (thought this would simulate the hotter times of day) and then on again from 9pm (lights off) to 9 am when my lights turn on again....

I realize there is no heat in nature that would warm things up like this in the middle of the night but im just not comfortable leaving them at 19.4 air temps (heat mat would/is still on, heating the tile to 23-24°C)....im aware in Pakistan air temps probably drop way below that at night, but then again they burmate in the wild if im not mistaken....

all this to tell you that this morning, before lights on and after having left the red lights on all night, they where both happily basking directly under the red lights.....

Roxanne seems a little more active as well, but that may be because she was up during the night.....

i tried feeding her as she was basking, and though she took an initial "spike of interest" when i dropped a small (really small) dubia in front of her, she didnt follow through with the hunt.... and snobbishly looked the other way after a while..... still i guess its a baby step forward....

I had also left 5 meal worms in a small plate for her that she didnt touch...when i dropped those five in front of calypso as he was sun bathing, he went at them the same way a chicken pecks the ground and ate them in less than two....

weight:

Roxanne: still at 23 Gr.
Calypso: 47 Gr
 

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Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Leos can see red and even moonlight bulbs. They find it stressful.

Can you get some ceramic heat emitters instead?

As long as you leave their UTHs on 24/7, it's fine for their cool ends to go to ~18.3*C (65*F) at night.
 

CWilson13

New member
My male is some age above 1 at 8.5 inches long and weighs around 80 grams.

My male is roughly this size as well. He eats approximately every other day. My female is about 6.5-7in long and last weighed in at 48g, but she is definitely under a year old and gets fed every day.

I can speak from first hand experience that the CHEs are better for the activity of my Leos. I originally had a red bulb too, until Elizabeth recommended the CHE. Once I started using it, my male actually would come out at night. With the red bulb he liked to stay in his hides.
 

swisswiss

Member
dang...I hesitated between the two...this fixture says its not CHE compatible....can anyone give me more first hand experience "ignoring" CHE safety.... keep in mind I have plenty of timers....dimmers seem to be a little more problematic to get in Switzerland for some unknown reason....
 

CWilson13

New member
Which fixtures are they? CHEs tend to get very warm so the less plastic in the fixture, the better. Mine are just Zoo Med10in dome light fixtures with built in dimmers. I could try to find the Amazon link for the ones I purchased if it would help.
 

Zux

New member
dang...I hesitated between the two...this fixture says its not CHE compatible....can anyone give me more first hand experience "ignoring" CHE safety.... keep in mind I have plenty of timers....dimmers seem to be a little more problematic to get in Switzerland for some unknown reason....

Judging by their appearance, id guess they are Exo-Terra 'light' fixtures, I have a strong feeling they may melt under the stress of heat from a CHE sadly, though I cant say for sure.
 

CWilson13

New member
Ah just came back to my computer and saw the photo with the fixtures. I agree with Shane, a CHE would most likely melt those. I would not advise using a CHE in those fixtures at all.
 

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
I use these: Amazon.com : Fluker's 10" Repta Clamp Lamp with Switch : Reptile Clamp Lamp : Pet Supplies

Zoo Med may make them too. At least some smaller diameter clamp lamps come with inline dimmers. Maybe someone manufactures the 10 inch diameter clamp lamp with a dimmer as well?

The socket should be ceramic.

I add a Hydrofarm/Jump Start MTPRTC thermostat.
Amazon.com : Jump Start MTPRTC, Digital ETL-Certified Heat Mat Thermostat for Seed Germination, Reptiles and Brewing : Plant Germination Heating Mats : Patio, Lawn & Garden
 
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Zux

New member
As Elizabeth says, the socket absolutely must be ceramic or it simply will not hold up to the heat the base of a CHE reaches.
 

JessJohnson87

New member
Just now getting back to this, been busy the last 2 days. Your tanks look amazing and I've been pitching the idea of going bio-active with excavator clay for my Ziggy to my husband. I will second the ceramic heat emitter, I do not currently use one but I'm leaning towards it for next winter with both of my geckos, but I know that some hardware type stores cell just ceramic sockets for lamp fixtures. If you have some electrical know how, you can easily wire these sockets to work with a 25 cm or larger dome, if you don't then YouTube is your best friend.
 

swisswiss

Member
oh snap haven't been getting notifications for this thread for some reason.....

here is an update:

weighed calypso this morning and he marks in at 50 grams (fatso)....


roxanne is still around the 22/23 Gr area but i was able to feed her 3 powdered crickets yesterday, I got some crickets from the pet store. you folks should have seen her! she was looking through the terrarium glass at the crickets, that were in a small carrier case, with crazy interest. she seemed so stoked about them that she didnt know which one out of all of them to target....

unfortunately God knows how long those crickets where on the shelves before I bought them, so I doubt they were anywhere near "gut-loaded"....but at least i got some supplements in her...she did not throw them up and stool seems either super moist and I find it dried and almost in-existent or she is pooping dust...

haven't been able to feed her today, she has small "interest spikes" when she sees a cricket limping about but she then decides against eating and looks the other way....
 

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Zux

New member
oh snap haven't been getting notifications for this thread for some reason.....

here is an update:

weighed calypso this morning and he marks in at 50 grams (fatso)....


roxanne is still around the 22/23 Gr area but i was able to feed her 3 powdered crickets yesterday, I got some crickets from the pet store. you folks should have seen her! she was looking through the terrarium glass at the crickets, that were in a small carrier case, with crazy interest. she seemed so stoked about them that she didnt know which one out of all of them to target....

unfortunately God knows how long those crickets where on the shelves before I bought them, so I doubt they were anywhere near "gut-loaded"....but at least i got some supplements in her...she did not throw them up and stool seems either super moist and I find it dried and almost in-existent or she is pooping dust...

haven't been able to feed her today, she has small "interest spikes" when she sees a cricket limping about but she then decides against eating and looks the other way....

That's good news you got her to eat, I have noticed Geckos will show interest in the hunt with no intention of eating at times. The 'look away with closed eyes' is a sure fire way to tell they will not eat at this feeding I have found.
 

swisswiss

Member
literally just got her to eat another 3 supplemented crickets...baby steps! so re-leaved ... she still wont look at mealworms though and dubias are to big for her i think
 
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