New Leo owner with lots of questions!

PowayRock

PowayRock

New member
Thank you. Although my temps are spot on , still working on humidity, I am not using a ceramic heat emitter. I have 12 on 12 on zoo med daylight bulb and a moonlight bulb to maintain temps, ( I do have a cool household a/c. On always. ) This was suggested by pet store :/. Wanna check with you pros will that be okay. So far very happy lizards. My male seems stressed though he's always spooked of me, since separating the him from the female. He will not go in the same exact humid hide at all. when they were together in first cage was always in it .... I am still adjusting his new cage to be just like the females so things are a little off but soon to be where they are needed. On the new tank I have a basking bulb with the moonlight combo on 12 and 12 timer. So just checking with obviously knowledgeable friends here (you) to make sure I'm not doing a no no like I have already with the youngsters together per bad pet store info.
 
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littlemissbigcity

littlemissbigcity

Member
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Here's my new set-up! The tiles are sliiightly too big so you can see where one doesn't sit flat but it's not too shabby. He now has a cool hide, a warm moist cave, and a warm dry hide. The tank is a little too crowded (I know), but I just really can't afford a bigger one for a couple of months.

The only concern I have right now is that I'm not sure if he can get out of the cave because the entrance is so high up.... I put him in there when I put it in because I wanted to see if he liked the moss and he's poked his head out a few times but I think he might be scared to climb down. Sooo I may be returning it for a new one... but for now I'm just going to lift him out and see if he goes back in by himself. He seems to really enjoy padding around in there :)
 
littlemissbigcity

littlemissbigcity

Member
Nevermind, I take that concern back. I just watched him explore all of his new hides and when he did he climbed completely on top of the cave before climbing back in haha
 
JIMI

JIMI

New member
Much better! Keep an eye out for great deals on Craigslist. Good luck!:)

Edit: Make sure to get those thermometers and that thermostat soon as well!
 
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littlemissbigcity

littlemissbigcity

Member
Getting there very very soon! I felt the cave and tile and for now they're not too hot so I'm less concerned about burning, but next Friday when I get paid that'll be priority #1!
Thank you!
 
JIMI

JIMI

New member
Keep in mind that our core body temperature is around 98 degrees, so touching something that should be about 90 degrees will not feel very warm to us. If it feels pretty warm to you, then it is likely that it is a bit too warm. Keep an eye on which hide he occupies most. If he is constantly on the cool side then it is too hot. You may be able to lay down a layer of paper towels to try to dull down the heat if this occurs while you are waiting to purchase the thermostat and thermometers! Just be careful that he doesn't consume any of the paper towels while eating. If you're feeding him insects without the bowl you can probably just take out the paper towels and put them back in after he is done.
 
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littlemissbigcity

littlemissbigcity

Member
Yes yes! It wasn't warm enough to really concern me and the thermometer I have is reading around 87 now. Right now I don't think he can decide which hide he likes best; he's become much more active since I removed the big log he's been in and for now he's switching hides about every 20 minutes. I feed him in a bowl and only leave food in there for an hour or so so I'm not worried about him eating anything outside of his bowl!
 
cricket4u

cricket4u

New member
PowayRock said:
Thank you. Although my temps are spot on , still working on humidity, I am not using a ceramic heat emitter. I have 12 on 12 on zoo med daylight bulb and a moonlight bulb to maintain temps, ( I do have a cool household a/c. On always. ) This was suggested by pet store :/. Wanna check with you pros will that be okay. So far very happy lizards. My male seems stressed though he's always spooked of me, since separating the him from the female. He will not go in the same exact humid hide at all. when they were together in first cage was always in it .... I am still adjusting his new cage to be just like the females so things are a little off but soon to be where they are needed. On the new tank I have a basking bulb with the moonlight combo on 12 and 12 timer. So just checking with obviously knowledgeable friends here (you) to make sure I'm not doing a no no like I have already with the youngsters together per bad pet store info.
Click to expand...

If your room temperature is above 75f, you need the AC in order to provide a cool side. Also you should be providing 14 hours of light in June. Follow this:

Sunrise Sunset Daylight Hours of Pakistan -- Timebie
 
cricket4u

cricket4u

New member
littlemissbigcity said:
Yes yes! It wasn't warm enough to really concern me and the thermometer I have is reading around 87 now. Right now I don't think he can decide which hide he likes best; he's become much more active since I removed the big log he's been in and for now he's switching hides about every 20 minutes. I feed him in a bowl and only leave food in there for an hour or so so I'm not worried about him eating anything outside of his bowl!
Click to expand...
If he is moving back and forward that frequently chances are the warm side is too warm.
 
littlemissbigcity

littlemissbigcity

Member
Okay, I'll keep an eye on him. That was only about an hour into putting him into his new enclosure; I think he just wanted to explore. He seems less active this morning. I may just have to get a less strong light for a bit (the daylight one I have is 75 watt) until I can get a new pad that's thermostat controlled. The UTH that his previous owner gave me isn't strong enough by itself to make it warm enough in there, unfortunately.
 
littlemissbigcity

littlemissbigcity

Member
It's only probably about 5x7, and it's not on a thermostat. It's just a little sticky one that's stuck on the bottom. His whole enclosure was given to me by the person that I adopted him from, so I'm slowly fixing it to be more ideal. I wasn't expecting to have to change anything though, so the expenses weren't expected and as a poor college student I have to fix things a little at a time :p

But I'm getting there, slowly but surely!
 
C

Completeleopard

New member
OK ,

Its recommended that you have a UTH that is 1/3 the size of your tank!

Thermostats are also highly recommended, they allow you to control the temperature of your UTH, the also reduce electricity used and reduce fire risks!
 
littlemissbigcity

littlemissbigcity

Member
IMAG0480.jpg

I have an update! I've got my set-up (mostly) all figured out now!

In addition to getting some new hides and replacing the substrate, I found out that with the UTH and the heat lamp it was getting WAY too hot in there. This explains why he spent all of his time in the log that was in there, because it probably had the best insulation and protection from the heat.

I finally bought a thermostat to control the heat lamp, but I have the UTH plugged into the wall normally. So the lamps turn on and off to control the radiant heat but he has constant belly heat when he's on the tile, but he can also get away from it by going into his moist hide. Because the lamps turn on and off, I've started being better about opening the blinds in my apartment during the day so that it can help him regulate his sleeping patterns (with it always being dark and no lamp I was afraid he would think it was constantly night). His enclosure is on the opposite side of my room as the window and I'm on the shady side of the building, so I'm not worried about him having too much direct heat or sunlight, it just makes the room brighter.

I also put a thermometer on the cool side of the tank, and it stays a couple of degrees warmer than our apartment. Since it's summer and we don't have AC, the cool side is right around 77 F. That may be too warm but with no AC I can't really control it. From September to May it should be around 71-71 F pretty regularly.

I don't have a humidistat, but I do spray down the sphagnum moss in his warm moist hide every evening while he's out and about, and I change the moss every 2 weeks or so. I've also been feeding him ****roaches periodically and sometimes some crickets (but I really hate having to rip the legs off for him so I don't think I can make that a habit) in addition to his regular meal worms.

He's eating WAY more (6-7 giant meal worms EOD instead of 2-3 in a week), is much more active, and is more comfortable with me when I wipe down the tile and spray his hide. He won't climb onto my hand by himself, but he doesn't wiggle and try to get away if I lift him up (I haven't taken him out of the tank except when I sanitize and deep clean it; I just lift him out of his hide and set him on the tile if I need to clean). If I put my hand down for him to climb on he does lick it, and he doesn't run and hide like he used to. All in all, he seems MUCH happier (at least for a gecko, haha).
 
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