Favorite hide not getting high ground temp

[Klynn]

need Help. I have followed all the advice on here and feel I have a good setup but have a couple issues.
1) I got a new hide. It is a Zilla rock lair. The moment i put it in the cage it is leppys favorite place. He barely leaves it now. Problem is I got the ground temp from the UTH perfect with probe under the carpet so it is a consistent 91degrees and air temps as recommended in this forum under his old hide. In his new hide however the bottom of it is a little thick and I can only achieve 84 degrees.
I tried moving the thermostat probe to the top of the carpet and it got too hot. Overall floor temp was 97 degrees after a short period of time When checked with infrared thermometer gun. It kind of needs to be in order to get his temp in hide up but when he leaves the hide do not want him to get too hot. Air temp inside all hides also got way too hot with the probe on top of the carpet.
Also his new hide is close to the CHE side. Should it be moved?
How can I get the temps right and him still get to use his favorite hide?
2) What degrees should air temp thermostat be set to on the CHE?
Room temp is 70 and colder at night.

He refuses to leave that hide since I got it and it’s his safe place. I only worry because he eats and lays in that hide with a 83degree floor temp. Too low I assume.

Please tell me what i can fix from the current conditions. He won’t come out anymore.

Tank size 24x18x12
Floor temp hot side 91-92
Floor temp in new hide 83degrees
Air temp averages 77-79 degrees thermostat set to 80 on CHE-reason is of up higher the hides get above 96 degrees air inside.

Wanted to get tile but that would make even thicker for the UTH heat to reach his new hide.

Started feeding him wax worms as a treat and instantly quit eating anything else!
He hates change and I won’t see him for days when I move something.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Please NO waxworms.

A CHE may not be needed in addition to a heat mat. If you do use an UTH + a CHE, you'll need 2 thermostats. What size is your UTH? Perhaps you need a larger UTH? See what happens with the UTH alone.

Can you use the rock lair for the warm moist hide instead? The probe should be placed on top of the substrate underneath the warm dry hide.

Please get a digital thermometer with a probe to verify the thermostat's settings.

This temperature guide might help.

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). Place the thermostat's probe and the digital thermometer's probe right on top of the substrate underneath the warm dry hide.

• 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).

I'm sorry if I misunderstood something.

 

[Klynn]

I have an untratherm 11x17 heat mat, a thermostat on each the UTH and CHe, 2 zoo med temp humidity gauges on each end. With the heat mat alone is great floor temp but the air doesn’t reach above 70 still with only that. All temps read the same and match on infared gun, thermometers and thermostats. The rock lair was intended for a moist hide only but he chose it as his only hide he goes in. I followed all the advice in here and see the temp guide just can’t seem to still achieve that.

 

[Marillion]

I have the same Zilla rock lair that I use as my gecko's moist hide. We have a warm dry hide with no bottom placed on textured tile slightly on an angle right up against the glass on the warm side. The Zilla Rock cave is placed right up against the warm hide and is still somewhat on top of the 11 x 17 heat mat. During the daytime when the Deep Heat projector bulb is also on overhead, the rock cave humid hide gets warm enough.

 

[SpottedDragon]

I would see about just removing the bottom of the hide if possible.
I had the same problem with some of the manufactured two-piece hides. I use an exo-terra two-piece for his moist hide, which is on his heat mat and under a CHE - this keeps the internal temperature of the moss hide 84ish (changes as the moss dries out).

For his regular DRY hot hide, it is a bottomless terracotta drip pan (turned upside down with a small door carved in it). It is situated on the UTH but not under the CHE. This way the "floor" of the hide is thin rough bathroom tile and heats up to 88-90* measured via a heat gun.

On a side note, from the picture you provided it seems that one of his hides is a 1/2 log type thing. I have found that all my reptiles - no matter what species will pick a favorite hide and stay there no matter what temperature or humidity they actually need. The best way to combat this is to have 2 to 3 IDENTICAL hides - one for each gradient. Then they are more likely to choose where to be based on temperature and not safety.

Also, it seems like lizards in general are more sensitive to what direction the opening of the hide faces. My gecko prefers the entrance facing the sides of the cage, IDK if it's too bright from his lights facing the back and maybe too much movement can be seen when facing the front of the cage...
For smaller skinks they like a very occluded entrance, the more stuff they have to squeeze through the better. Fence lizards like thin vertical hides, anoles like lots of greenery.

Basically it may take trial and error to see what your guy prefers, and whatever that is, give him more of it