New tank not hot enough

A

AmberJ

New member
Hello all, I'm new here and to the world of owning geckos! My two boys (age 3 and 5) are super into reptiles, amphibians, and all things bug and boy, lol. They recently convinced me to let them keep a couple house(Med) geckos in their room and buy a tank for them, so I did. We went to the pet store and the guy there helped us get everything he thought we would need. A 10 gallon tank with a heat mat included. He said that should be plenty to warm the tank to the right temps and I got a thermostat with humidistat as well to make sure.

Well now that the tank is setup for over 24 hours, the heat mat is working but the tank is not warm enough. It's only registering 74 in between the warm and cool climate which isn't hot enough, right? Should I get an heat lamp in addition to the heat mat? What wattage? I would love any suggestions you have for me! On top of it, one of the females is about to drop eggs and I definitely want the temp right for that!

Thanks in advance!
 
Britt005

Britt005

New member
It's probably just a crappy mat so I'd say take it back if you can and replace it. I have a national geographic UTH and it'd get well over 100 if I didn't have it on the thermostat. Exo Terra ones work well too, in my experience. I've seen a lot of people here recommend Flukers as well. Overhead heating is only really needed if the air temps are low I think - I bought a 60 watt Ceramic Heat Emitter for winter usage as the air temps regularly get below 65 in my house.

If you got yours at a big box store, like petsmart or petco, take everything they say with a grain of salt. It seems they are good at sounding like they know what they are talking about without knowing anything at all. I, as well as many others here, have gotten so much wrong info from them. Wasted so much money replacing things they told me would be fine. Tons of good info here though, I'm sure one of the more experienced users will be a long soon!
 
Aimless

Aimless

Super Moderator
also, are you sure you got a thermostat and humidostat? not just the the temp and humidity gauges that adhere to the glass? those are notoriously poorly made and inaccurate. you might try measuring the temp by a more accurate method (such as infrared temp gun, something like this or similar) and verify that value before turning anything up.
 
A

AmberJ

New member
Thanks so much for the info! You're right, it's just the gauge from Petsmart so there is a good chance it's not accurate. The mat is very hot to the touch and I can tell it's working and the geckos aren't staying in that spot(or on the hot side even) the whole time so maybe it's not as cold in there as it seems. I went to Petco today to get a red night heat light and got it home and it doesn't even turn on, lol. So maybe I'll go back tomorrow and exchange it and see if they have a better thermostat or a temp gun so I can more accurately tell the correct temp in there. The ground temp is what matters, right?
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
AmberJ said:
......They recently convinced me to let them keep a couple house(Med) geckos in their room and buy a tank for them......
Click to expand...

AmberJ said:
Thanks so much for the info! You're right, it's just the gauge from Petsmart so there is a good chance it's not accurate. The mat is very hot to the touch and I can tell it's working and the geckos aren't staying in that spot(or on the hot side even) the whole time so maybe it's not as cold in there as it seems. I went to Petco today to get a red night heat light and got it home and it doesn't even turn on, lol. So maybe I'll go back tomorrow and exchange it and see if they have a better thermostat or a temp gun so I can more accurately tell the correct temp in there. The ground temp is what matters, right?
Click to expand...

Ceramic heat emitting bulbs are a better choice for air temps than colored bulbs. Geckos can see red.

Mediterranean house geckos are arboreal. It's nice to have warm air temps for them.

Here's a good thermostat that many of us use. It's the only moderately priced thermostat I know of with a digital readout and a small metal probe.

Click: https://www.amazon.com/MTPRTC-ETL-Certified-Thermostat-Germination-Reptiles/dp/B000NZZG3S
 
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