Heat pad for gecko???

Andie · Jan 17, 2015

My daughter's Leopard Gecko is female, about 1 1/2 yrs old, beautiful, & has a very plump tail.

We put her on a diet of mealworms only, when we adopted her a year ago. (Read an online breeders recommendation of this)

She's in a 10gal tank with a plain faux grass mat, a big log to hide in, a water dish and we use a day lamp & night heat bulb.

Recently I read that they need a heat pad under their tank to help digest food.
Anyone know about this?

zlew · Jan 17, 2015

All reptiles need heat/light to digest food, if you have the proper temps for your gecko, then you should be fine. I would get her off a meal worm only diet. They can be hard to digest, (even with heat) and aren't very healthy. Crickets, roaches, hornworms, super worms, calci worms are all better choices.

fluxlizard · Jan 18, 2015

It sounds like your leopard gecko is healthy and doing fine.

There are many ways to provide heat- it sounds like your way with the heat bulbs is working out just fine. You don't need a heat pad unless you want to change heating methods.

Mealworms are fine for the diet of leopard geckos, as you probably already know. Many breeders of leopard geckos in the past used mealworm-only diets with great results and lifespans well in excess of 20 years. It would not hurt, however, to provide additional food items such as those normally reserved for your chameleon, and would be interesting for your gecko and probably fun for you and your child to watch the gecko hunt down items a little more active than mealworms from time to time.

zlew · Jan 18, 2015

fluxlizard said:
It sounds like your leopard gecko is healthy and doing fine.

There are many ways to provide heat- it sounds like your way with the heat bulbs is working out just fine. You don't need a heat pad unless you want to change heating methods.

Mealworms are fine for the diet of leopard geckos, as you probably already know. Many breeders of leopard geckos in the past used mealworm-only diets with great results and lifespans well in excess of 20 years. It would not hurt, however, to provide additional food items such as those normally reserved for your chameleon, and would be interesting for your gecko and probably fun for you and your child to watch the gecko hunt down items a little more active than mealworms from time to time.

Guess I was wrong about the mealies! Sorry

Andie · Jan 18, 2015

Yes. Opinions always seem to vary widely.

Here's the interesting thing though: after not having crickets for months, we tried to reintroduce them to her and she wouldn't touch them.

We have given her supers & wax worms only once or twice. Also tried a horned worm but she wouldn't eat it. I think it was too big.

Thanks all for the comments. Amazing how much differing info is out there!

Masked Gecko · Jan 19, 2015

Leopard geckos are nocturnal, there is no need for a day heatbulb since they dont bask. A heat pad would be the best heating option for leos.

kinyonga · Jan 19, 2015

You may be interested in reading this information about a geckos skin and UVB...
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/skintests.htm

I kept Leo's for years and only had heat under part of the cage so they could chose whether they needed the heat or not.

Heat pad for gecko???

Andie

Avid Member

zlew

Member

fluxlizard

Avid Member

zlew

Member

Andie

Avid Member

Masked Gecko

Member

kinyonga

Chameleon Queen

Similar threads