Hello, about a week ago, maybe longer, I bought a Leopard gecko. It ate fine since I got it, between 8 and 12 medium crickets a day. But starting 2 days ago it didn't want to eat as much and I thought nothing of it because in my research before getting a gecko I had read that sometimes they don't eat as much as they normally do. And ever since this started it has been using it's humid hide a lot (which it never once used in the time before this). So today I tried to feed it in the morning and it ate 2 crickets then I tried feeding it at night and it didn't want to eat anything and it just wanted to go back to it's cool hide. So I am kind of concerned as to if everything is all right with it. Also, I have 4 hides for it. A cool hide, a warm hide, a hot hide and then a humid hide. It never uses the hot hide for anything but pooping! It's like a litter box. Is that normal?
New Gecko Questions/Concerns
- Thread starter Envy
- Start date
Elizabeth Freer
Well-known member
Hi ~
A warm welcome to Geckos Unlimited!
It's nice that your leo has 4 hides! :yahoo: Maybe your hot hide is too warm?
Perhaps your leo is getting ready to shed? Is his skin getting loose and whitish? Is your humid hide on the warm end?
Is your leo a juvie or an adult? Please share a picture. Juvies and sub adults usually eat once a day.
Here's a temperature guide for all leopard geckos as measured by the probe of a digital thermometer
A warm welcome to Geckos Unlimited!
It's nice that your leo has 4 hides! :yahoo: Maybe your hot hide is too warm?
Perhaps your leo is getting ready to shed? Is his skin getting loose and whitish? Is your humid hide on the warm end?
Is your leo a juvie or an adult? Please share a picture. Juvies and sub adults usually eat once a day.
Here's a temperature guide for all leopard geckos as measured by the probe of a digital thermometer
- 88-92 F (31.1-33.3 C) ground temperature right underneath a leo's warm dry hide
- no greater than 82ish F (27.8ish C) air temperature - 4 inches above ground on the warm end
- no greater than 75 F (23.9 C) air temperature - 4 inches above ground on the cool end
Thank you for the welcome.
I am not sure if he is getting ready to shed, he hasn't lost color and his skin hasn't whitened or become loose.
The humid hide is on the cool side of the tank. My leo is a sub adult, I think. I have attached pictures from a few days ago.
The air temp on the hot side of the tank is around 80 F (is usually around 82 F), on the cool side it is also 80 F for some reason right now. I don't have a thermometer at the farthest point of the cool side. I can move one and check it tomorrow. As for the ground temp, I am unsure of the actual temp, I have no way of checking. I have a UTH on the warm side of the tank and then a 100W heat lamp on the warmest corner. I have such a high wattage bulb because my tank is tall and it wasn't warming up anything past 75 until I put the bigger one in.
I keep my heating lamp and UTH on 24/7 because that is what I was told to do at the pet store.
Also, I keep my house at 68 to 72 F.
I am not sure if he is getting ready to shed, he hasn't lost color and his skin hasn't whitened or become loose.
The humid hide is on the cool side of the tank. My leo is a sub adult, I think. I have attached pictures from a few days ago.
The air temp on the hot side of the tank is around 80 F (is usually around 82 F), on the cool side it is also 80 F for some reason right now. I don't have a thermometer at the farthest point of the cool side. I can move one and check it tomorrow. As for the ground temp, I am unsure of the actual temp, I have no way of checking. I have a UTH on the warm side of the tank and then a 100W heat lamp on the warmest corner. I have such a high wattage bulb because my tank is tall and it wasn't warming up anything past 75 until I put the bigger one in.
I keep my heating lamp and UTH on 24/7 because that is what I was told to do at the pet store.
Also, I keep my house at 68 to 72 F.
wicked gecko
New member
Do you have your uth hooked to a thermostat? If not that's probably part of the issue. I tested one of mine and without the thermostat it went up to 120°F. Also if you're heart lamp is an actual light and on 24/7 it could stress it. Once you've got a thermostat and ground temp in the hot hide is near 91°F then I would see if additional hearing is needed use a ceramic heat emitter. I got a thermal temp gun from Amazon for about $14 and the zoo med digital thermometers for about $8 each. Hope this helps some.