UVA 25w ExoTerra day-glo light... recommended for leos??

[Saskia]

I don't know much about the light, but I have read somewhere that some light is NOT good for leos...is it UVA or UVB the one that is not good?? are they both?? thanks!!

 

[acpart]

It's not that any UV light is bad, just that since they're nocturnal, too much can irritate them. I don't use any lights myself, but I can't imagine that a 25 watt bulb would do any harm.

Aliza

 

[Saskia]

Thanks Aliza..... I am looking for something I read that geckos could get poisoned because of using incorrect light..... The thing is I have a male whos all his life (he is one year old) has been VERY HUNGRY, I mean, he eats EVERY DAY (if possible), ALWAYS at about 6 -7 pm he comes out of his cave and starts to vander around looking for food and has always been very eager to eat... 4 days ago he vomited a mix of half-digested mealworms... the next day he vomited again, and since then he doesn't come out and refuses to take food, I offered a cricket yesterday and he just went back to his cave, I understand it has been too little time to get too worried but this is just not like him!! I am concerned and I was looking for reasons he might feel bad, or sick, he has that kind of light, but I (to be 100% honest) use it less than once a week, sometimes when I remember I turn it on for a few hours and that is it.... he lives alone in a 25 gallon tank, has 2 hides, plenty of food, calcium, vitamins.... I keep him in sand covered with aquarium little pebbles (I didn't want to get rid of the sand because my boyfriend paid a lot of effort in biulding him a nice enclosure, all my other animals are in paper towels), and I always hand feed him, I NEVER put the food on the sand, and most of the sand is covered with the pebbles anyway, and if the food falls down into the sand I remove it immediately in order to wash it... he weights 48,20 grames now... I weighted him yesterday in order to monitor if he looses any weight.... I am just checking what possible issues might be wrong with him

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

How are his temps? Does he have belly heat? If he doesn't have proper belly heat, he may not be digesting his food as well as he should. I'd also switch him off of mealworms. They're junk food anyways, and much harder for them to digest than crickets or roaches due to their high chitin content.

 

[Saskia]

Hi Ethan, and thank you for replying!!

He has tummy heat, he has a heat rock, I am aware they can get a little too hot, it is buried in the sand, he has no direct contact with it, just keeps a part of his enclosure's floor warm, honestly, 100% honestly I have used mealworms for quite a time now (9 years), never as a staple diet, I use 50% grasshoppers 50% mealworms give or take (I always rely in Ron Tremper's opinion and he states he feed all his geckos EXCLUSIVELY mealworms) also, it is VERY hard to find different feeders in south america where the herpetoculture is not very wide... but reading (mostly your posts) has made me start an investigation regarding what could be the best feeder for my leos, I was able to get a colony of crickets "achetus domesticus" and I am doing my best in order to start breeding them, I have not been very lucky yet, but I truly hope I can change their diet to crickets and grasshppers, and an ocasional mealworm, just to add some variety! but I definitely need to breed the feeders, since there are not stable providers here, that's another reason I have used mealworms, because they are SUPER EASY to breed, which has not been the cricket's case... perhaps the lack of know-how has plaid a role there...

How are his temps? Does he have belly heat? If he doesn't have proper belly heat, he may not be digesting his food as well as he should. I'd also switch him off of mealworms. They're junk food anyways, and much harder for them to digest than crickets or roaches due to their high chitin content.

 

[acpart]

I don't know for sure but it is possible that maybe he ate too much, regurgitated and is a little gun shy. I'd recommend giving him a day or 2 without offering food so he settles down and then try again. Keep an eye on his poop to see if it looks normal.

Aliza

 

[Saskia]

He came out today, and looked at me, it seemed as if he wanted to do something but he didn't want me to see him... not in an antropomorphic way, he just came out and he realized I was there, stared at me for one minute and went back to his hide... One hour after he came out again and went to his defecatorium, and he shok his head opening his mouth the way they do when they are going to throw up, but he didn't, did if for a few seconds, and then went back to his hide..... after that I went out and when I came back he had poo'd ... it looks pretty normal....