Sickly Leopard Gecko! ):

[Elizabeth Freer]

I have a UTH, and a digital probe thermometer than i can put under him now. I have Calcium powder, but it has D-3 in it. Is the D-3 bad for them compared to the way other geckos take it down?

I really appreciate your feedback!

I have all of my reptiles in my room, so i have about six heat lamps going, along with a heater that goes throughout the house. Ive had to keep my window open the past few nights because we're sweating. Indeed, it is ungodly hot. haha.

We had the window open all night, to cool the room down. And he is also near a door with an underdraft coming through the bottom of it. I shit you not, it is incredibly hot in here.

The calcium i have is ZooMed Repti Calcium- if i need to get a different kind for him i can. No matter where i put that thermometer in the enclosure, it read 70- so that's what i put as an answer. Once i get a proper reading from the probe and the UTH i can update what his temps are in his tank.

I didnt want to stress him even more when i got home, so i had planned to change everything over today once he got somewhat acclimated.

The ZooMed should work. My personal preference is Repashy; I think it works better based on others' accounts. However, some others prefer ZooMed. What you decide to use is up to you.

I'm curious how you fit the sav in your room along with all the other reptiles though. I mean, that's a huge enclosure. How do you manage?

~Maggot

its_uhleeeen ~ A "simple" question about shedding may not be "simple" at all. Husbandry is interconnected. What you are doing here could easily affect something there. That's the purpose of the questionnaire.

So I hope that you'll continue to be open to our suggestions.

Sounds to me like your thermometer is not working. Better options would be: good quality digital with a probe so you can measure surface and air temps. A temp gun is an option for ground temps and for verifying other settings.

The Zoo Med product you have mentioned is calcium with D3 only. Your leo needs a multivitamin. I like Zoo Med's Reptivite with D3/vitamin A acetate. It is a good idea to also include a very small bottle cap of plain calcium in the tank 24/7 as a backup. No need to buy a reptile brand, which can cost more. NOW brand plain calcium carbonate works fine. Just if you notice your leo taking frequent licks, then something else might be amiss.

For your leo, the UTH should be 1/3 the length of the tank and nearly as wide. Size up to the UTH size recommended for 30-40 gallon tanks for a 20 gallon LONG.

No black lights. Get Ceramic Heat Emitter or Exo terra's Night Glo Moonlight bulb.

Strongly advise getting thermostats for some of your habitats. A thermostat will ensure more even temps for all your reptiles and minimize the risk of fires from UTH malfunctioning, et cetera.

Gutloading the Feeders versus Feeding the Feeders 24/7
The term gutloading causes some confusion. Feed your feeders a nutritious regular diet all the time to build strong feeder bodies. Then only feed a special GUTLOAD product to the crickets, for example, 1-2 days prior to feeding the crickets to your geckos. T-REX Calcium Plus Cricket Food is a good gutload food. Top off the crickets by lightly dusting with a multivitamin containing D3/vitamin A acetate or phosphorus-free calcium with D3 no more than 2x weekly.

For the "suggested" cricket diet I use and many more "exciting" tips, please check out my Leopard Gecko Caresheet linked below in my signature.

 

[Embrace Calamity]

The Zoo Med product you have mentioned is calcium with D3 only. Your leo needs a multivitamin. I like Zoo Med's Reptivite with D3/vitamin A acetate.

That's a good catch. I assumed she meant Reptivite (they all have such similar names, it's easy to get confused). I didn't even realise they produced more than one calcium supplement.

~Maggot