thank you all for the replies!
countgecko,
83-85F all the way. i just hid them in the coolest corner i could find. didn't matter to me if they became dark colored, i wanted females. lol!
but once they hatched, i put them out in my gecko "space", where temps go as high as 92F in the day. i have no choice, day temps in my country are really high. don't know if that helped in the improvement. i've read that darkened skin due to low temp was not reversible.