gecko always in moss hide?

[cloutnicky]

Hello! I'm hoping this is the right place to post this thread but, my new leopard gecko has been constantly in his moist hide. I've had him for about 5 days and he comes out sometimes and goes to his other hides but he's always in the moist hide. At first this wasn't a concern because I thought maybe he just likes it, but a quick google search about it and some people say he could die from being in there all the time. This is really making me worry now. I don't think the temperatures are too hot? The hot side is usually around in the lows 80's and the cool side is usually around 73-75 around that area. Everything in his husbandry is good so I'm just really concerned. I don't think he's going into shed or anything? But I could be wrong. Just hoping someone can help me.

 

[acpart]

Some geckos fall in love with a particular hide and spend all or most of their time in there. This is not unusual and the gecko will not die from staying in the hide. When you say the temperature is in the 80's on the hot side, do you mean on the floor or in the air? How are you measuring the temperatures. Ideally the temp on the hot side is in the low 90's on the floor as measured with a digital thermometer and a probe (and not those temperature dials which don't work so well). Let us know and we may have some more ideas.

Aliza

 

[cloutnicky]

I use a temperature gun to measure everything. I measure the floor and its usually in the 82-85. Sometimes drops in the lows during the night.

 

[acpart]

Temp gun is fine. 83-85 is on the low side and many people will tell you that it's too low for the gecko, though some of my geckos are sometimes at that temp and they do fine. There's a chance that these geckos in the wild may spend a bunch of time in crevices that have moister micro climates, so I don't think you need to worry.

Aliza

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

I use a temperature gun to measure everything. I measure the floor and its usually in the 82-85. Sometimes drops in the lows during the night.

Underneath your leo's warm dry hide right on the ground his temps should range from 88-92*F as measured by your temp gun and by your thermostat's probe.

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).

Tape the thermostat's probe and a digital thermometer's probe together, but offset a little. Place them right on top of the substrate underneath the warm dry hide. If you use a UTH + a CHE you'll need 2 separate thermostats, because ground and air temperatures are substantially different.

• Warm dry hide ground temperature: 88-92 F (31.1-33.3 C) inside a leo's warm dry hide.
• Warm humid/moist hide: Place the humid hide 100% on top of the heat mat. Keep temperatures similar to the warm dry hide.
• Cool dry hide 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) surface temperature - 4 inches (10 cm) above ground on the warm end
• no greater than 75 F (23.9 C) surface 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).