It's my first winter with Lola

[Gecko Newbie]

Alright, so - its been a while. I haven't needed help, but...now I do.

Recently our whether finally changed to "winter" (remember, its AZ, so our "cold" is 50 er so). My boyfriend and I are a little eco freakish and we don't really use heat in our house - just blankets. SO - our temps dropped dramatically over a weekend when I just happened to be out of town. When I got back, her tank was only 85ish on the HOT side and it was down to 65 on the cold side. (!!!!) Needless to say I freaked a little (can't really blame the boyfriend - he forgets she's even here and since I was only gone around 48 hours I hadn't asked him to feed her.) I warmed her tank back up to normal (100-105 on the hot side) but I couldn't get the cold side above 70. I got a red heat lamp and added some foam insulation under the tank on that side. The cool side still won't really go above 75, but because of the heat lamp the hot side keeps creeping up to 114....

I'm afraid of what could've happened to her being so cold over that first weekend.

I'm worried about the temps being crazy... How do I warm up the cool side without making the hot side hotter?

She's still eating and pooping, but she looks...different. She's not as perky as she used to be and she seems to just stand around squinting her eyes....or is she sleeping outside the hide because it's so hot?

Advice?

 

[Captain Stitch-Mozart]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't 100-105 degrees too hot? I thought the warm side should be around 85-95 degrees.
Stitch's tank stays right around 85-90 on the arm side and 75 on the cool side.

It just seems to me that the temp you are keeping your tank at is too hot.

 

[Allee Toler]

Naturally the temps will drop. For the winter time I see no harm in her hot side getting to 85F. My rack stays at 97F steady (100-105F is too hot), I would suggest never going above 97F. Begining of November (when I notice the drop in eating) I drop the temps to 89F. I keep them "cooled" Until about mid-Janaury.

I think she's too hot.

 

[Gecko Newbie]

??? The hot side of her tank has always hovered around 100 because of the heating pad - she's always on that side of the tank and remained active and eating...??? It wasn't until the tank got super cold that she started acting different.

I spent some time rearranging her tank today and managed to fix the temps so that the hot side is 95 the middle of the tank is 85 and the cold side of the tank is 75. I just propped up the hot side with some wooden cubes and moved her log hid over that end, put her most compact hide over the center of the tank against the back wall and added another layer of foam as insulation under the cold side of the tank (plus it leveled out the tank after adding the wooden cubes on the other side). She's been active when she's out of the hide today and even in her hammock, so I guess it was just too hot on one side, too cold on the other, and lacking a good hide in the middle.

Here's my new problem. I think with the dryness (and coolness) of her tank, she had some shedding issues - there's some left near the base of her tail on her belly. I've read about putting her in warm water to help it come off, but.....how warm should the water be? How deep should it be? If I pick her up and put her in the container, she's going to crawl out. I'm envisioning putting her in the biggest (deepest) tupperware container I have and filling it with water deep enough to reach her belly but not cover her legs past the "knee" (?) if that's what it's called....

Suggestions? Advice?

Thanks for the concern with the heat. It hadn't been a problem, but I'll be sure to keep it cooler so that it doesn't become one.

 

[Allee Toler]

If it's loose you can just pull it off. If it's stuck then do the warm bath. I test the water like I do with baby bottles. If it feels hot to your wrist then it's too hot. You want it just a tiny bit more than luke warm. Fill the water up to about her tummy.

 

[Gecko Newbie]

Wonderful! Thank you!