Do i need heating mat?

[Toumato]

Hello , I'm new and just owned a 2 Leopard geckos for weeks,
one Male and Female, both have seperate cage.


do i need any heating mat? i live in tropical country, Indonesia
whch have 30*c tempature most day and 27*c tempature on rainy day.

i have news paper as substrace, so does it hinder the heating mat heating?
and does heating mat adjustable? does it crack the aquarium/terrarium glasses from heat?

sorry for derpy english.

 

[MikeD]

Welcome!

A heating mat couldn't hurt. That way your geckos can get some belly heat which will aid in digestion.

You can increase to 31 or 32c so they can always have a source of consistent heat

Many people say newspaper is fine for a substrate but I wouldn't use it. Too much risk of chemicals in the ink getting into the animal (especially colored ink). If you're going to use it, I'd leave it out for a week or so before I put it in with the geckos.

A heating mat won't crack your terrarium but you MUST provide an air gap between the bottom and surface it's sitting on.

You can get something like the rubber feet shown here. They're self adhesive and you can stick them to the bottom corners of your enclosure to raise it up and give it the REQUIRED air gap



You should also have the heating mat on some kind of a thermostat to regulate the temperature. This is important especially in a warmer climate like yours. Most heating mats will increase the temperature by about 20* over room temp. and that will be too much for your geckos.

 

[Toumato]

THanks alot Mike!

Now i jsut changed my gecko substrace to normal plain printing paper lol

Hm what if no thermostat regulator being sell in here at the moment?

can i set the tempature to 20*c-10*c ? just incase not to over heat my geckos?

 

[MikeD]

I don't know of any heatmats that have a built-in dimmer/thermostat.

You can use a common dimmer (the ones used to dim lights) to regulate the temperature. It may not be as accurate as a thermostat and it won't be able to change with the air temperature but it will work. Many people use them without any problems. They're inexpensive and available at any hardware store.

You may need to do some basic wiring but there's lots of instructions on the web (and it's pretty easy).

You'll also need some kind of thermometer to be able to check the ground temp. I use both a inferred and a thermometer with a probe to keep an eye on temps.

 

[kholtme]

Mikes info is spot on!

You can order a thermostat online! I highly recommend a thermostat over a dimmer.
I use the pads that are meant to go under the legs of chairs to prevent them from scratching wood floors under my tank to elevate it, but mikes recommendation will work just as well.

 

[Toumato]

So i got ceramic heat emiter, the only option i can get here, and got thermostat too.
now my thermostat are in 33-32c daytime (30c nightitme)
now, how high or low should i set my ceramic heater?

my tank is 25"W,14"H,11.3"D for both tanks,
i was thinking of tiles, how many inch of tiles and amount would fit in there?


edit: here how the ceramic heater look

 

[LEOPARD1]

No.

Wait let me edit this before I get pounced....

When I say no I mean you could use the following:

Heat Cable (as a UTH)
Heat Tape (as a UTH)
Human Heating Pad (seen it done safely)
Dog/Cat Heating Pad (seen it done safely)

I have seen some creative people make UTH's out of stuff found in their basement and garage.

There's other products that work as a UTH.

Biggest concern is burning the house down, be careful and I dont reccomend any of the above with or without regulation even if in one of my posts I type I use it.