# My leopard gecko setup and some questions



## Reptiles666 (Jan 20, 2013)

This is my leopard gecko tank. I have 2 leopard geckos inside 1 male and 1 female. I'm using a 100w basking bulb during the day and I have a night time lamp. Is this setup ok? The white stuff on the carpet is vitamin powder from crickets that I have to clean up. Also I have a 16watt heating pad that should take up just under half the tank, should I use a lower wattage lamp during the day when I put my heating pad on.


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## Gratenkutzombie (Dec 28, 2012)

As leo's are mostly nocturnal you don't really need a basking lamp - in their natural habitat they gather heat from the ground. I think you should put a few more hides into the viv with a bit of greenery as cover (plastic plants). I also don't recommend housing a male and female leo together unless your going to be breeding and unless the female has enough energy reserves to sustain growing eggs inside her.

A few q's:

- Are you using any kind of thermostat? If so, what stat on what piece of heating equipment? 
- What are the temps your getting on both the cool side and the warm side? 
- How old are they both?
- What are you feeding them? How much/how often
- How long have you had them?


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## Reptiles666 (Jan 20, 2013)

I haven't had them long. I have 2 thermostats on both sides that usually read around 80-90s. They are about 4-5 years old. I'm feeding them 30 mealworms every 3 days. I feed the mealworms potatoes and carrots. And im going to stop using the basking lamp once I know I am able to use my 16w heating pad and just leave that on 24/7. Also I got them as a trio and they were housed together before I got them but I took one out. The two that are in the tank still get along always. They sleep side by side with no problems and I make sure to feed them separately. I have a small tank that used for the other female I got because she was skinny when I got her. So I assume the other two didn't really accept her so I'm waiting until she is healthy then I was planning on putting my 2 females together and having the male in his own small tank


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## Gratenkutzombie (Dec 28, 2012)

Are you using something to control the temperature of your heating equipment? They are referred to as a 'thermostat' and look like this:








The above thermostat can be used for a bulb heater, and is called a 'dimmer stat'.
If your going to be using a heat mat you'll need to hook it up to a 'mat stat' (there are other thermostats you can use, but a mat stat is cheaper).

Personally, i don't like to feed my reps mealworms as they have half the protein/fat etc of crickets:
*Crickets:*
55.3% protein
30.2% fat
0.23% calcium 
*Mealworms:*
22.3% protein
14.9% fat
0.26% calcium 



But this is a personal preference. Will the under weight female feed from a tongue? If so, i'd swap the male for the thin female and feed her via a tongue so that you know shes getting a good feed, but then again, this is personal preference and im sure someone will be of a different opinion.


Also, you need to decrease the temp on one side as you cant have both ends with a high temp as they will not be able to 'thermoregulate'. You ideally want 1/2 to a 1/3rd of the vivarium with a high temp including a 'hot spot' (upto 90F) to bask and the other end lower with temps of the higher 70's upwards.


What size is your viv?






Reptiles666 said:


> I haven't had them long. *I have 2 thermostats* on both sides that usually read around 80-90s. They are about 4-5 years old. I'm feeding them 30 mealworms every 3 days. I feed the mealworms potatoes and carrots. And im going to stop using the basking lamp once I know I am able to use my 16w heating pad and just leave that on 24/7. Also I got them as a trio and they were housed together before I got them but I took one out. The two that are in the tank still get along always. They sleep side by side with no problems and I make sure to feed them separately. I have a small tank that used for the other female I got because she was skinny when I got her. So I assume the other two didn't really accept her so I'm waiting until she is healthy then I was planning on putting my 2 females together and having the male in his own small tank


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