Green stain/spot in wet hide...

GeckoFanboy

GeckoFanboy

Member
Elizabeth, this is for you:

Scooby is doing much better now. He's walking fine again. I have very gradually introduced calcium back into his diet. Because I haven't been feeding him as much (he was overweight), I think his stomach has shunken internally because he's not wanting food as much as he use to (he would never turn down food).

Anyway, a couple times now, in his moist hide, I have seen this tiny, almost pine green spot on his wet paper towel. There have been one or two occasions in the past when I wasn't changing his moist paper towels often enough that it appeared some tiny mold spot would appear, but I have been changing it every week now, so I don't think this is mold. So what do you think? Is it possible some dark pine green stuff is coming out of him somewhere? There is nothing in his tank that would cause this, and I have only seen this phenom in his moist hide.

He seems healthy otherwise. He's been VERY active lately. Coming out of his hides alot and wandering around his tank, climbing on his hides. Almost every time this happens and I open the tank for maintenance, he tries to climb up my arm. So he's in "spring-mode" right now, as most male geckos get this way this time of year, which I love because he's so cute and social now.

Another question:
I still have Scooby's old 10 gallon tank. It's sitting outside his room in the hallway at the top of the steps. It's an ideal spot. I have nowhere else to store it and I don't want to get rid of it. I was thinking of getting some anoles for it. Do you know anything about them? I see them at PetSmart every time I'm in there. Would I have to worry about diseases getting to Scooby? I don't want to endanger his health. Let me know what you know and think. Thanks!
 
GeckoFanboy

GeckoFanboy

Member
Right now, I have a double lamp (w/bulbs), that sits on the cool side of the tank. I have this double lamp hooked to a timer. At night, one of the bulbs, is a ceramic heat bulb. I always have it adjusted to make sure the cool side of the tank is at 73°. It can get cold in Scooby's room during the winter, so this bulb is necessary. I don't run it much during the summer. The other bulb is a small 20watt bulb for daylight. Scooby's room is somewhat dark, as we keep the blinds almost closed, since his room faces the direct sun during the day. It can really warm up on that side of the house during summer. My bedroom is right next to his, so I know how warm it can get. BTW, his room is our storage room. His tank sits right near the bedroom door and it's ALWAYS wide open, so he gets air. Anyway, the bulbs are on a timer (and they have sliders to adjust). Summer is coming so the daylight bulb is set for 13 hours, and his ceramic bulb clicks on at sunset.

Regarding this UVB bulb you are telling me about, I was thinking of getting this 12" bulb (below). That way I can sit it nearer the cool end of the tank, and run it from front to back. I might have to ditch the double dome lamp and get a single for his ceramic/night bulb, which I can place at the far end of the cool side of the tank (for his night warmth, if needed). I check his tank temps every day because of fluctuations of the outdoor temps, especially with the warm weather approaching.

Arcadia ShadeDweller ProT5 UVB Kit - 12" for sale

He's walking IS normal again, but he still has the occasional leg tremors. I notice this mainly when he's waking from his sleep, and just starting to move. One thing I have noticed lately, and he's done this a number of times....hmmmm, how can I explain this? It's like his body experiences an electrical shock. He JOLTS in place. Like one big body spasm...almost like something has shocked him. He whips his head real quick when this happens. He doesn't do it all the time, just occasionally. It's kind of weird. Not sure why he does this.

Scooby is a GRUMPY male gecko. He's always been that way since I bought him as a juvenile. He growls alot. I notice he's gotten better though, especially during the period I was giving him his warm baths (which I've stopped at this point). It's funny though how he actually does have some personality and can be extermely moody. Some days he's really pleasant and friendly, and other days NOT. Lastnight, I fed him two dubias and he ended up shedding later in the night. I didn't really think he was going to go into to shed though because when I fed him he wasn't all frosty looking. When I checked on him late lastnight, he had crawled into his moist hide and I saw his shed skin at the entrance of the hide. I went to check on him and lifted the moist hide lid, and when I did, he flipped out! Got really aggressive, whipped all around...lunged at my hand. So angry! Really nasty! I was so surprised. After that he chomp/clicked his jowls for a bit. Had a really angry look on his face, and was breathing really hard. He is so moody!
 
Zux

Zux

New member
Hi there, thanks for your message.

To answer your questions quickly - yes, the shade-dweller unit will work nicely,just ensure you provide ample opportunists for the Gecko to regulate his exposure.

That is to say, as many areas of partial (and crucially complete( shade as you have room for, as the whole idea here is that we just allow nature to take its course, and the Gecko will self regulate their exposure based on their need at any given time.

With regard the Anoles & 10 gallon - I would avoid it if you could, stick with the feeders in a 10 gallon. I appreciate these are nowhere near as fun to keep, but the 10 gallon will be too restrictive and difficult to provide proper care for all but the very smallest of species.

The Anoles as a species are very resilient and adaptable, so will likely survive just fine, though as we know, that ought not to be our goal with any species in captivity, but rather to enable them to thrive.
 
GeckoFanboy

GeckoFanboy

Member
One more question:
As you read in the last post (right above yours), I use a small 20watt bulb just so Scooby has daylight in his tank, but it's also used to provide a bit of warmth on the cool side of the tank. Temperatures have been oddly cold outside this spring, and yesterday it was really cold out; because of that I had to push the slider up a bit on the daylight bulb to keep the temp on the cool side of the tank above 70°, meaning: not only do I use the daylight bulb for 13 hours of light, but I also use a dimmer switch on it to regulate temps on the cool side of the tank.

So, if I buy this new UVB light, I'm wondering if I can still use it for both light (well, of course) and emitting some heat, as well, to regulate the temp on his cool side? Does this UVB light emit heat or is it a cool temp light? And if it emits heat, I'm wondering if a dimmer switch will work on it? I want UVB light, but I also need a way of regulating the heat on the cool side of the tank to keep the temps around 73°.
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Please let us know what size enclosure leo Scooby has.

UVB needs to be provided over the warm end, not the cool end. UVB + warmth go hand-in-hand.

I'm sorry I've been really delayed. You reached out to the perfect person: Zux!


PS:
Cool end ground temps into the upper 60s are just fine.
 
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GeckoFanboy

GeckoFanboy

Member
His tank is 30x12x12...pic taken when he was younger:

TankLayout2.jpg

His warm hide is on the left. His moist hide (where he spends most of his time) is in the middle. And his cool hide is on the right (behind his water dish). His poop spot is directly in front of the warm hide, in the corner, up front. His UTH is running under the warm and moist hides. He prefers to bask (when he does) on the floor right between the moist and cool hide. He's been spending alot of time out of his hides lately (it's spring). He does like to spread out right in front of the warm hide after he's eaten...sometimes laying inside of it. If it gets too cool in his room at night, he'll go into the warm hide.

I keep a ceramic bulb and a small 20watt bulb in the double dome fixture. They are on timers and dimmer switches. The ceramic bulb is there to keep the temps from dipping to low on the cool side during winter. During summer, we can blast our AC, and again, it can get cool in his room. Temps are always perfect in his tank.

I wanted to put the UVB light on the far right of the tank, as that is where he likes to roam, and he'd get some light over there. Then he could retreat to his warm or moist hides, which he prefers over the cool one. What do you think?
 
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Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
GeckoFanboy said:
His tank is 30x12x12...pic taken when he was younger:

View attachment 48901

His warm hide is on the left. His moist hide (where he spends most of his time) is in the middle. And his cool hide is on the right (behind his water dish). His poop spot is directly in front of the warm hide, in the corner, up front. His UTH is running under the warm and moist hides. He prefers to bask (when he does) on the floor right between the moist and cool hide. He's been spending alot of time out of his hides lately (it's spring). He does like to spread out right in front of the warm hide after he's eaten...sometimes laying inside of it. If it gets too cool in his room at night, he'll go into the warm hide.

I keep a ceramic bulb and a small 20watt bulb in the double dome fixture. They are on timers and dimmer switches. The ceramic bulb is there to keep the temps from dipping to low on the cool side during winter. During summer, we can blast our AC, and again, it can get cool in his room. Temps are always perfect in his tank.

I wanted to put the UVB light on the far right of the tank, as that is where he likes to roam, and he'd get some light over there. Then he could retreat to his warm or moist hides, which he prefers over the cool one. What do you think?
Click to expand...

Click: Arcadia ShadeDweller ProT5 UVB Kit - 12" for sale
Click to expand...

Another GU member has got the UVB specs for a 20 long all figured out. He worked them out with Fran Baines, DVM, who is an expert on this subject. He shared the details with me, but I've not yet added them to this link. Maybe [MENTION=65717]Marillion[/MENTION] will stop by this thread and share those specific details with you.

First try the UVB he recommends above the warm end to see what Scooby does.

 
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GeckoFanboy

GeckoFanboy

Member
Thanks Elizabeth. Unfortunately, I cannot find this Arcadia 12" kit anywhere online.
It's sold out everywhere I look. If you know of anyone that has it in stock right now, let me know.
Thanks!
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
GeckoFanboy said:
Thanks Elizabeth. Unfortunately, I cannot find this Arcadia 12" kit anywhere online.
It's sold out everywhere I look. If you know of anyone that has it in stock right now, let me know.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

Have you checked:
Triple L?
Amazon?
Reptile Basics?
LightYourReptiles?
 
GeckoFanboy

GeckoFanboy

Member
Yes, every single one of them.
I even Googled it. Not one American pet store online has it in stock.
They are all gone.
:sad:
 
GeckoFanboy

GeckoFanboy

Member
That I'm not sure about.
I left my email on a couple of their sites "to be informed when they get them back in stock".
I do believe these bulbs and fixtures are made overseas, so it might be awhile with the current situation.
I can't believe they are sold out everywhere though. Bummer.
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Scooby is doing much better now. He's walking fine again. I have very gradually introduced calcium back into his diet. Because I haven't been feeding him as much (he was overweight), I think his stomach has shunken internally because he's not wanting food as much as he use to (he would never turn down food).

Anyway, a couple times now, in his moist hide, I have seen this tiny, almost pine green spot on his wet paper towel. There have been one or two occasions in the past when I wasn't changing his moist paper towels often enough that it appeared some tiny mold spot would appear, but I have been changing it every week now, so I don't think this is mold. So what do you think? Is it possible some dark pine green stuff is coming out of him somewhere? There is nothing in his tank that would cause this, and I have only seen this phenom in his moist hide.
Click to expand...

Are those dark pine green spots continuing?

I'm happy that Scooby has made a good recovery and has lost weight! How about sharing before and after Scooby photos?
 
Marillion

Marillion

Member
Hi there. Sorry for being late to respond. There is a retailer here in Canada that it looks like they would have the Arcadia Shade Dweller fixture and bulb in stock. Perhaps they ship to the USA? Here is the link: https://www.reptilesrus.ca/arcadia-shadedweller-prot5-uvb-kit-110v-7-uvb/

As Elizabeth mentioned, I would try using the light above the warm area first. That is where I have my light currently. As to my lighting setup. Please see below for the comments I had in another thread that I will just re-post here for convenience.

"I was just recently in correspondence with Dr. Fran Baines about the adequacy of using the Zoo Med Repti Sun 10.0 Mini Compact bulb in a 20 long enclosure with an 8.5" dome reflector with a white coating. Dr. Baines, based on recent testing feels that this setup for UVB may not offer quite adequate Vitamin D3 levels in and of itself. I myself have been supplementing with Zoo med calcium with D3 one to two times a month. My gecko has not exhibited any signs of disease after just over one year. However, I should add that my feeder insects have an exceedingly "good" diet that may have been making up for some of the shortcomings of not enough D3. (Addendum May 12. Recently, she did recommend I perhaps add a D3 feeding or two in addition to what I was giving before while I am using the Zoo Med 10.0 mini compact bulb.)

I feed my crickets and mealworms ground up ADULT Bearded Dragon pellets (powdered) as well as slices of zucchini and carrots, the crickets also get Repashy Bug Burger and Flukers Cricket quencher with calcium (replaced often so it does not dry out.) Dr. Baines recommends that when it comes time to replace my Zoo Med 10.0 Mini bulb that I should possibly switch to the Arcadia Shade Dweller 7.0 UVB bulb with 12" long enclosure to better ensure UVB dispersal to my gecko through the mesh screen and the distance I am dealing with in the enclosure (10"-11" basking site from UVB bulb.)

For my DHP (Deep Heat Projector) bulb, I use a Zilla 8.5" dome with white coating inside and it is on a thermostat that allows me to control two separate settings. One for daytime and one for night time."

I hope that helps.
 
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