Heating Question

[chipkali]

I'm a teacher and I have my leopard gecko, Chip, at school as a class pet. It seems that recently the management has decided to completely turn off the heat (or at least let it drop below 60) during the evening. This morning when I got in at 7 it was 58 degrees in the room and the heat didn't kick on until 7:15 am. I'm really not sure at what time they turned it off but the building closes at 6:00 pm so I'm guessing it was around then. Now my gecko has a UTH that keeps the hot side in the low 90s (it's on a thermostat) and his cool side has always been around 75 because that was the room temperature of the building. Obviously high 50s is too cold for poor Chip so I need a way to heat that side but only at night. It will need to be a relatively simple set up so that it doesn't become a danger to the kids or the gecko. Any ideas? :sad:

 

[acpart]

Two possibilities (I assume they're not turning off power): check out a heat producing red light that you can set on top of the cage; check out a ceramic heat emitter.

Aliza

 

[IggysMomma16]

Like mentioned above I'd get a ceramic heat emitter or red heat lamp. The heat lamps are usually cheaper,the heat emitters cost upwards of $55 but are,in my opinion,easier and stay warmer.Then you can just switch the light/heat emitter on before you leave work and off when you get back. I use a heat emitter on my girls large tank cause the heat pads alone dont keep it warm enough.I use a 150 watt and it always stays nice and warm. I hope this helps and good luck.

 

[Allee Toler]

Cheap wise, I would go with a low wattage red bulb. You don't need a high wattage bulb because you just want the cool side to be warmer than what it's at, but not as warm as the hot side.

The clamp on lamp is about $5 at petco/petsmart, and the bulb is about $8 and lasts around 6 months or so. I've had one last over a year before.