Heat pad or No?
- Thread starter Murdock14
- Start date
Matusallem
New member
About the heat pad... well... with leopard geckos it is a good idea to use UTH (under tank heaters) because they hate light. Leos being nocturnal dislike having a lightbulb pointed at their eyes. I once bought a $ 30 malnourished leopard gecko from a kid, curiously enough named Murdock, and I placed an UTH and grew double the size in three weeks! Never the less, precautions are to be taken with UTH as they might burn your leopard gecko. Exo terra's small desert UTH works well with paper towel for me. Make sure to have water and another hide in the opposite side of the tank so that he can cool off if he likes. I live in Panama so UTHs are not really needed unless you really need a metabolic boost on the animal.
Matusallem
New member
Well. . . then you should make sure that the UTH is compatible with sand. There usually is a current, heat and compatibility ratio list on the back of the UTH's box (at least exo-terra has). You must also know that using sand as a substrate, as pretty as it may look, is probably the worst decision reptile owners make.
IslaReina
New member
UTH's are necessary IMO. How are you heating your leo now? Also, sand can cause impaction in leos, but if your leo is an adult and has plenty of calcium supplement, it will probably be ok. I would swtich to something else though, it's not worth the risk. UTHs can work with mostly any substrate, def. sand.
MellowMan24
New member
UTHs are great and the most reasonable heat source for a leo seems how they get their heat from the ground not the air, if u get one (which IMO you should) get a thermostat as well so that it wont overheat as easily.
Leah Stables
New member
I would definitely recommend an under-tank heating pad with your leo. The direct contact with the heat is good for digestion, and they're more energy efficient than heating lamps. If you're going to use sand (I wouldn't recommend it) make sure it's a thin layer. If it's a thick layer the heat might not reach the surface layer of sand and your poor little gecko will be cold.
Ozymandias
New member
try ceramic or slate tile it's cheap reusable and you can pick it up at home depo or lowes
Matusallem
New member
With the UTH I mentioned you should be ok with only paper towel. Paper towel is very easy to use, yo just replace it every day, really cheap and you don't have to be cleaning it every so often.