Getting ready for gecko

[GeckoFanboy]

I'd leave that cool hide alone. Don't tape it up. Your gecko will get use to his new environment. Just make sure you place it against the side of the tank that is more hidden from view, bright light, loud noise, kids bothering it alot. The gecko is going to sleep in this, so he's not going to go into it if it's full of distractions to stress him out. Basically, you need to decide which side warm and cool are going on...sounds like this cool hide will make that decision for you.

Those lamps can "cook" your tank. Just make sure it's a very low watt bulb, or hook a dimmer switch to it and lower the light/temp down. Keep that light over on the cool side, because if it's over on the warm side it's going to get too warm. The light should be strictly used to let your gecko know it's daytime only. It's not for heat or basking at all. They truly don't need lights on their tanks. They just need that 88-92° floor temp in their warm hide for belly heat to aid digestion.

DON'T put a second heat mat on the tank. The cool side should be in the mid-late 70's, and it will be, as long as the heat mat is all the way over to one side, and the tank light isn't hot. Let's put it this way...I have a tiny 10 gallon tank and I am able to keep my warm side at 88-92° and my cool side 75-78°. My gecko is nice and comfy and can go to either end of the tank to get warm or cool off. Like I said, if your cool side gets too cool, ditch the light bulb and replace it with a ceramic heater bulb...put a dimmer switch on it and you can keep the temps on the cool side where you need them. No need at all for a 2nd heat mat...trust me.

 

[GeckoFanboy]

Also, I'd buy a male if I were you. You don't have to worry about him becoming gravid and laying eggs. Males live longer too. Keep checking the internet for local reptile shows. They always have tons of leo geckos to choose from. Chain pet stores all have the same "spotted" leos. If you want one that's a bit more exotic looking, wait for a local repti show. This way you'll be able to pick through a huge variety of leo morphs and get exactly what you want. Be patient...one will come around soon...summer's coming. Also, there are a number of dealers online and since it's warming up now, you can order online too.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Here’s the setup so far with the UVB luminaire installed hanging by a chain from the shelf above the Vivarium.
View attachment 44854

So your vivarium is in a cubby of sorts. That may be one reason why you want a lamp in addition to your UTH.

I hope you didn't rip the tiles out.

How far are you "off" warm end and cool end temps?

Here are the temp recs. It's in nearly every thread but yours. Sorry.

Temperatures - A temperature gradient from warm to cool maintains your leo's health. Here's a temperature guide for all leopard geckos as measured with the probe of a digital thermometer or a temp gun (and controlled by a thermostat set at 91*F/32.8*C):

• 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

Leave the UTH on 24/7. At night turn off overhead lighting/heating (~12 hours on and ~12 hours off) unless ambient room temperatures drop lower than 67ish*F (19.4*C).

 

[Keith]

So your vivarium is in a cubby of sorts. That may be one reason why you want a lamp in addition to your UTH.

I hope you didn't rip the tiles out.

How far are you "off" warm end and cool end temps?

Here are the temp recs. It's in nearly every thread but yours. Sorry.

This forum is incredible!
I copied the temp info from another thread you responded to yesterday and have been using it as my giuide. The UTH is sandwiched between the glass and insulation, so thankfully there’s no reason to pull tiles up even to replace or add a UTH. I’ll take detailed temps later today.

I’ve been hunting for a Dubai roach bowl. Do you know of any with the natural stone look, but still prevent escape? I seem to find one or the other. The Vivarium is in the family room along with our 75gal planted aquarium, so aesthetics are almost as important as functionality.

My girls agreed we would go Gecko shopping in July at the earliest. However, they came home with a $19.99 gecko from PetSmart last night! Now I’m scrambling to make everything perfect. I ordered a Herpstat 2 last night. That way I’m covered if I need to control both sides of the Vivarium. At least they got a male as we had decided. He’s been in the moist hide since he got home, which straddles the hot and cold sides per recommendations. When I got up, I noticed Yoshi had picked his potty corner.

I am NOT 100% prepared for this critter yet and I’m concerned about the health of the big box store animals. Do I need to get an initial exam at a vet?

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Here's the Anchor 8 ounce clear glass feeding dishes I use with a ramp. They're good visuals for my geckos. Their perpendicular sides keep bugs in. Even then I amputate the back legs off the crickets.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

I am NOT 100% prepared for this critter yet and I’m concerned about the health of the big box store animals. Do I need to get an initial exam at a vet?

An initial exam and fecal will let you check out the vet too. My vet will not do a fecal unless the leo is an established patient.

Cryptosporidosis is often more common in Big Box stores. It's contagious and can lie dormant for years.

Vets can test for Crypto by swabbing the vent.


Here's how my exotics vet recommends collecting a stool sample:

1. Place a piece of clean plastic where your gecko usually poops. If your gecko poops somewhere else, take the poop to the vet anyway. Some poop is better than no poop!
2. As soon as your gecko has passed some poop and urates, but without physically touching the sample, place the feces and urates directly onto a clean plastic bottle cap. (Vet has fecal sample containers if you can stop by first.)
3. Then place the bottle cap with fecal sample directly into a plastic ziploc bag. (Do NOT use paper towels or newspaper because those will absorb some of the feces necessary for a proper culture.)
4. Refrigerate this sample...unless you are taking the sample to your vet immediately. Do NOT freeze it.
5. Keep the sample cool enroute to the vet.
6. Take this fecal sample to your vet within 24 hours of collecting...the sooner the better!

[There are two types of fecals: fecal float and direct smear tests. For geckos, ask the vet whether both tests should be run.]

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Another option for a clear glass feeding dish is a sturdy tealight holder from Walmart. Having a clear food dish really adds a welcome visual for a leopard gecko.

Watch Tony Perkins' short video in the beginning of this thread for a visual.

• Click Leopard Gecko Setup: Leopard Gecko Care Sheet (abbreviated) -- February 2018 (show handout)

Tonight I saw online something about Arcadia's deep heat projectors. The poster was using it to heat a leo cage.

 

[Keith]

So your vivarium is in a cubby of sorts. That may be one reason why you want a lamp in addition to your UTH.

I hope you didn't rip the tiles out.

How far are you "off" warm end and cool end temps?

Here are the temp recs. It's in nearly every thread but yours. Sorry.

With a house temp of 68f, here are the Vivarium temps...
Hot side tile=92f
Hot side air=77f
Cold side tile=68f
Cold side air=72f

In winter, the house temps will get to the 50s from time to time and maybe even colder by the Vivarium since two of the cubby walls are exterior walls.

 

[Keith]

Here's the Anchor 8 ounce clear glass feeding dishes I use with a ramp. They're good visuals for my geckos. Their perpendicular sides keep bugs in. Even then I amputate the back legs off the crickets.

View attachment 44887

View attachment 44888

A transparent feed dish never occurred to me. I just picked this up because they had it at the place I got Dubia roaches...

 

[Keith]

An initial exam and fecal will let you check out the vet too. My vet will not do a fecal unless the leo is an established patient.

Cryptosporidosis is often more common in Big Box stores. It's contagious and can lie dormant for years.

Vets can test for Crypto by swabbing the vent.


Here's how my exotics vet recommends collecting a stool sample:

1. Place a piece of clean plastic where your gecko usually poops. If your gecko poops somewhere else, take the poop to the vet anyway. Some poop is better than no poop!
2. As soon as your gecko has passed some poop and urates, but without physically touching the sample, place the feces and urates directly onto a clean plastic bottle cap. (Vet has fecal sample containers if you can stop by first.)
3. Then place the bottle cap with fecal sample directly into a plastic ziploc bag. (Do NOT use paper towels or newspaper because those will absorb some of the feces necessary for a proper culture.)
4. Refrigerate this sample...unless you are taking the sample to your vet immediately. Do NOT freeze it.
5. Keep the sample cool enroute to the vet.
6. Take this fecal sample to your vet within 24 hours of collecting...the sooner the better!

[There are two types of fecals: fecal float and direct smear tests. For geckos, ask the vet whether both tests should be run.]

I collected Yoshi’s feces this morning and put in the refrigerator. I made a vet appointment for Saturday. I guess I’ll just collect every sample I can until then. I put a piece of parchment paper in his potty spot, but then he decided to go in the cool hide!

 

[Keith]

Here’s the UVB lamp controller. It’s wifi connected and controlled/programmed from my iPhone. It’s currently set for 9-17:00.

Here’s the warm hide...

I got a couple stainless probes for the Herpstat 2, which hasn’t arrived yet.

Dubia roach food as suggested here...

 

[Keith]

Is silicone appropriate for applying the thermostat probe?

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Is silicone appropriate for applying the thermostat probe?

Aquarium silicone is safe to use.

Where are you placing the probe? Clear suction cups with slits can be found especially at the holidays.

I just tape 2 probes together and leave them beneath the warm dry hide as a pillow of sorts.

 

[Keith]

Aquarium silicone is safe to use.

Where are you placing the probe? Clear suction cups with slits can be found especially at the holidays.

I was thinking one in the warm hide, touching the tile. The other beside the cool hide, also touching the tile, since inside the cool hide it can’t contact the tile. The Herpstat 2 arrives tomorrow, so I’m trying to plan.

 

[Keith]

I just set up the Herpstat 2. Maybe I’m being hypercritical here, but what is the ideal setup? Here is what I did...

Warm Hide:
Day time=7:00
Day temp=92f
Night time=19:00
Night temp=88f
Ramping=1h

Cool Hide:
Day time=7:00
Day temp=75f
Night time=19:00
Night temp=70f
Ramping=1h

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

I just set up the Herpstat 2. Maybe I’m being hypercritical here, but what is the ideal setup? Here is what I did...

Warm Hide:
Day time=7:00
Day temp=92f
Night time=19:00
Night temp=88f
Ramping=1h

Cool Hide:
Day time=7:00
Day temp=75f
Night time=19:00
Night temp=70f
Ramping=1h

Your little leo certainly has high tech!

Night lows into the upper 60's aren't problematic for leopard geckos.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

I collected Yoshi’s feces this morning and put in the refrigerator. I made a vet appointment for Saturday. I guess I’ll just collect every sample I can until then. I put a piece of parchment paper in his potty spot, but then he decided to go in the cool hide!

Replace the former feces with the newest ones. The closer to the appointment the better!

Last October I needed a fresh fecal sample from a gecko. I gently massaged her belly in a throat-to-vent manner. Soon she pooped right on plastic and on my clean fingers. Poop captured!!! :coverlaugh:

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Are you using this link, but adjusted for your location?

Click: Sunrise Sunset Daylight Hours of Pakistan -- Timebie

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Click: #6---Gutload Ingredients for Bugs & Worms......Olimpia -- August 2013

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Lettuce (except dark, leafy greens) is just water and nutritionally irrelevant. People don't even give lettuce to tortoises and iguanas because it's worthless as food. The same could be said for potatoes. Fish flakes are very high in protein and this can lead to a build-up of uric acid in feeders/reptiles and end up causing gout. A little now and then is fine but this should never be the bulk of any gutload.

"A commercial gutloading food like Bug Burger or Superload (both by Repashy), Cricket Crack, Dinofuel, etc. is going to make your life easier AND provide a nutritious diet to your crickets at the same time. Avoid Fluker's gutloads, as they are super feeble in their formulas.

"If you opt for making your own gutload at home, here is a list of great ingredients to use:
Best: mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelion leaves, collard greens, escarole lettuce, papaya, watercress, and alfalfa.
Good: sweet potato, carrots, oranges, mango, butternut squash, kale, apples, beet greens, blackberries, bok choy, and green beans.
Dry food: bee pollen, organic non-salted sunflower seeds, spirulina, dried seaweed, flax seed, and organic non-salted almonds.
Avoid as much as possible: potatoes, cabbage, iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, corn, grains, beans, oats, bread, cereal, meat, eggs, dog food, cat food, fish food, canned or dead insects, vertebrates.

------>"As far as how to keep crickets, a large plastic storage container will work well, but really anything with smooth sides. On a large plastic container you can cut out a panel on two sides and glue on aluminum screening (and do the same on the lid) and this will provide plenty of air flow. Bad air is the #1 killer of crickets, along with poor hydration, so having good airflow will make the difference if you start getting into bulk orders of crickets.

------>"And I just dust mine using a large plastic cup. You don't need to coat crickets in a thick layer of calcium. Just put a pinch of calcium into the cup, get some crickets into the cup, swirl, and dump. The crickets end up evenly but lightly coated and there isn't any excess calcium left over."

"Hope that helps!"

(Last edited by Olimpia; 08-21-2013 at 02:03 PM.)

 

[GeckoFanboy]

I only have one thermostat probe in my tank. I keep it on the warm end of the tank and it sits on the ceramic tile floor, in the middle of the warm hide. My warm hide is an Exo-Terra and almost all of their hides have a hole drilled into their side somewhere to run the probe into. I had to drill mine open a bit more to fit the probe through.

Anyway, here was my dilemma: My gecko loves to poop right smack on top of his warm hide, and I clean it off every single night when I go in to feed him. Because of this, I have to wash his hide off every night...removing it from the tank to do so. And of course the probe wire runs through the wall of this hide. Sooooo, I can't tape or suction the probe to the floor, as I am constantly pulling the hide out every night to clean it. I am lucky though, as the probe wire has formed in such a way that when I run it through the hide wall and place it in the tank, the probe lies flat on the ceramic tile. In fact, many times when I peak into the warm hide, my gecko is lying on the probe, LOL.

As for your cool side, you could buy one of those cheap tank thermometers that stick onto the side of the glass with velcro. Just mount one of those right off to the side of the cool hide on the glass. The most important side for temps is the warm side. It must always be a constant and regulated by a thermostat. The cool side can fluctuate a bit more, as you gecko will no where to go when he needs. If the cool side gets too cool, he can head to the middle of the tank.

Arrgh! They sprung a box store spotted gecko on you. When my last box store spotted gecko died, I vowed never another one, and even told people when my gecko died...DO NOT buy me a "normal" gecko just to cheer me up. I wanted a tangerine! Don't worry though. If it's healthy that's all that's important.