Male Leopard Gecko has a Rosy Colored Belly and Tail- Burns???

[Rose23]

Today after I fed my maybe 9-10 month old leopard gecko, Theo, I held him and had a look at his belly. I noticed that his belly and the base of his tail was red tinted. I havent noticed this before and I check him over regularly. He is still young so it could be just his morph? He is a murphys patternless. He is acting normally he loves his food, explores at night, poops are regular and normal, and he is acting like himself (he's a bit sassy). His heat pad thermostat is set at 88F and it fluctuates from 85-91F. Is 91F too hot? Could he be too warm and these red patches are burns? I've attached some pictures.


Side note: I have a heat mat under the glass, then the reptile carpet with the thermostat resting on top. The thermostat and my laser temp gun read very different readings. The thermostat will say 86F and the laser gun will read 91F! I don't know which one is inaccurate. I think its the thermostat because my other two gecko set ups thermostats and laser gun temps match... The heat mat isn's stuck on as well as I'd like, the edges wouldn't adhere properly so the center is the best adhered. Could this be the problem and not the thermostat?
Thanks!

 

[Geopard Lecko]

i would tape the probe under the repticarpet since the heat mat is already stuck on that way you can get consistent readings, even then tho the temp on Top of the carpet will be lower so you will have to bump the settings up to get desired temps, atleast this way the probe cant get moved some how an then the temps soar.

 

[Rose23]

i would tape the probe under the repticarpet since the heat mat is already stuck on that way you can get consistent readings, even then tho the temp on Top of the carpet will be lower so you will have to bump the settings up to get desired temps, atleast this way the probe cant get moved some how an then the temps soar.

Thats true! I'll look into changing that. Did you look at the pictures of his belly, do you think it looks normal?

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Side note: I have a heat mat under the glass, then the reptile carpet with the thermostat resting on top. The thermostat and my laser temp gun read very different readings. The thermostat will say 86F and the laser gun will read 91F! I don't know which one is inaccurate. I think its the thermostat because my other two gecko set ups thermostats and laser gun temps match... The heat mat isn's stuck on as well as I'd like, the edges wouldn't adhere properly so the center is the best adhered. Could this be the problem and not the thermostat?

I don't see any signs of burns in the pictures you shared.

You can buy Nashua electrical tape from a place like Home Depot to secure the edges of this heat mat and tape it down on top. The heat mat should be snug against the glass.

I also notice significant discrepancies between temp readings when I use my temp gun. I don't know why.

I use 2 probes -- one probe from my leo's thermostat and the second probe from a digital thermometer to verify the thermostat's temps. Both probes pretty much agree. Both probes are offset a little and then taped together. Both probes are placed underneath the warm dry hide and right on top of the substrate where my leo rests. That's the temp this chart is based upon.

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):

• Warm end ground temperature: 88-92 F (31.1-33.3 C) inside a leo's warm dry hide and his moist hide too!
• Cool end ground temperature: 70ish-75 F (21.1-23.9 C) Usually the cool end ground temperature matches the room temperature where the enclosure sits.
• no greater than 82ish F (27.8ish C) air temperature - 4 inches (10 cm) above ground on the warm end
• no greater than 75 F (23.9 C) air temperature - 4 inches (10 cm) above ground on the cool end

Leave the heat mat/UTH on 24/7. If you wish, during the 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).