Leopard gecko lighting

R

rockdaddy

New member
Hello Gecko Unlimited community,
I am a new leopard gecko owner, I just got him today and I am very excited to take care of him.
However I was reading about proper lighting for a leopard gecko and I seemed to find a lot of conflicting information from different sites and was not sure what to believe. Currently I have his cage close enough to the window that it gets indirect sunlight. For heating I have a heating pad on one side of his cage with a hot spot of around 90 degrees. I was wondering do I need to get a secondary light source for his cage, if so what type and what hours would I use it. Additionally I am living in a house where I only have one room so I was wondering at night if i have my room light on should i cover his cage with something to make it dark?
Thank you in advance I really appreciate the help :)
 
A

acpart

Well-known member
Welcome to gecko owning! There is conflicting information because there is more than one way to do things. Leopard geckos are nocturnal/crepuscular (out at dawn and dusk), so they don't need much light, though lighting is certainly permissible. If the room the gecko is in has enough light so it's clear when it's day and when it's night (sounds like your room has that), then that's sufficient. Some people do like to have a light on and some people feel that their leopard geckos are basking under the lights. If you do want to use a light, make it one that's not too bright. The easiest thing to do is to keep in on a 12 hour cycle.
Heat: If possible, it's a better idea to put the heat pad on the bottom of the cage (outside the cage) since normally we work on providing belly heat. You will probably need a thermostat as well so the heat stays in the low 90's.
I feel that geckos are adaptable and can deal with light and activity at night if that's what their humans are doing. I have about 60 geckos in my living room and dining room and am usually up quite late with the lights on working at the computer. Everyone is thriving.

Aliza
 
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