Chameleon Loco
New Member
For years I have been using a basking light in the morning and a black reptile light at night but at the show I was told a uth was the best way to heat leopard geckos. Is my way fine to use?
Leopard Gecko Heating?
- Thread starter Chameleon Loco
- Start date
ChameleonRave
Avid Member
Typically people don't use them from what I have read. I use a UTH it works great and she loves it!
fluxlizard
Avid Member
IMO with leopard geckos it really doesn't matter what the heat source is as long as they have one. I've bred them under red or black bulbs, I've bred them with an under tank heater, and I've even bred them with heat bricks buried well below the surface of a sand substrate. They just need some source of heat. When I kept some in the house for a few years for the kids, we used a red colored bulb for heat so the kids could observe them at night. in my lizard building, I prefer to use flexwatt heat tape for breeding setups. I've also used the ceramic heat bulbs for naturalistic setups.
Leopard geckos are *very* hardy and flexible. Somewhere buried in my files I have a photocopy of an old article from the 80s that was a scientific paper outlining a leopard gecko colony that had gone on for generations in a research laboratory. These geckos were kept at room temperature which very cool on holidays and weekends without a basking heat source and fed only mealworms and kept without substrate and they still lived and thrived and bred generation after generation and the originators of the colony were getting very old and still thriving. Lighting was just ambient lighting in the room. The animals in the photos looked very healthy and robust. I say this not to recommend the method, but to illustrate how hardy these lizards really are.
Leopard geckos are *very* hardy and flexible. Somewhere buried in my files I have a photocopy of an old article from the 80s that was a scientific paper outlining a leopard gecko colony that had gone on for generations in a research laboratory. These geckos were kept at room temperature which very cool on holidays and weekends without a basking heat source and fed only mealworms and kept without substrate and they still lived and thrived and bred generation after generation and the originators of the colony were getting very old and still thriving. Lighting was just ambient lighting in the room. The animals in the photos looked very healthy and robust. I say this not to recommend the method, but to illustrate how hardy these lizards really are.
Ryan Jarosek
New Member
It does matter. They are nocturnal and do not bask. They use rocks that were heated during the day. They will avoid the light and hide from it. It is inefficient and not easy to control.
Using lights is the number one reason when I hear my gecko died. It wont eat etc. Not saying the won't work just not natural or efficient
Using lights is the number one reason when I hear my gecko died. It wont eat etc. Not saying the won't work just not natural or efficient
fluxlizard
Avid Member
Put a regular light bulb up as a basking light during the day along with your nocturnal heating. Report back in a few months and tell me if they don't start basking in the evenings. A group of mine sure did in the evenings before lights went out when I kept them in a huge 8'x30" naturalistic enclosure with desert iguanas and they had nocturnal heat available at night as well- they came up to bask in the late evenings anyway.
Further- red lights aren't the same as daylight.
I'd say if lights are the number one reason someone's gecko died, then the gecko didn't have a decent hide box to get away from the light. In sand substrate enclosures I bury the hides under the substrate so no light gets in...
Only reason I can think of that light would be a problem.
On the other hand- I have a real hard time understanding why someone would have a problem keeping a leopard gecko thriving...
Ryan Jarosek
New Member
The are not basking in the eve they are seaking out heat. They do not see the red light .
I am only speaking from experience. If you want to encourage that type of setup then that is up to you. I shared my opinion. I do not like to experiment with my animals when they are thriving in a good setup.
Maybe you missed where I said I am not saying it wont work.
Not here to argue or care what you have done in the past. I used sand forever and never had a problem but have seen geckos with guts full of sand from others. It works doesn't mean it's right. Now I use paper towles "just in case".
fluxlizard
Avid Member
That's cool. I was just responding in my last post to your statement that "it does matter" which I thought was an argument against what I had done in the past.
I do experiment a lot over the past few decades to learn a lot.
I do not consider anything I have said in this thread experimental, nor do I recommend things that I consider experimental- I'm speaking from personal experience (20 years with leopard geckos) and my experience has been only positive with these geckos in a variety of setups and heating situations. I have found they are extremely adaptable lizards that thrive under a variety of heating situations. Provide a thermal gradient, a dark and humid hide shelter, fresh water and calcium dusted insects and they will thrive regardless of how the heat is provided.
But I salute you and say feel free to disagree.
I disagree- when they had the option to seek substrate heat vs moving under the basking light they chose the basking light in the evenings. If they wanted to avoid the light or simply choose a warm substrate to bask on, they would not have regularly selected the light and would have moved where the light was less bright but they still had surface heat.
But I do agree they don't *need* to bask.
Peace Out.
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Ryan Jarosek
New Member
That's cool. I was just responding to your "it does matter" in my last post which I thought was an argument against what I had done in the past.
I do experiment a lot over the past few decades to learn a lot. I do not consider anything I have said in this thread experimental at this point, nor do I recommend things that I consider experimental- I'm speaking from personal experience (20 years with leopard geckos) and my experience has been only positive with these geckos in a variety of setups and heating situations. I have found they are extremely adaptable lizards that thrive under a variety of heating situations. Provide a thermal gradient, a humid hide shelter, fresh water and calcium dusted insects and they will thrive regardless of how the heat is provided.
But I salute you and say feel free to disagree.
Peace Out.
LOL , Oh boy the INTERNET strikes again. I see where I said "it does matter". I didn't mean to sound like I was addressing you or trying to disagree.
I totally agree with what you just wrote. I only wanted to recommend against what I have seen to be a problem with. I know there isn't only one way.
Sorry for any confusion.
Chameleon Loco
New Member
Leopard Geckos do bask
at night mine climbs her rock and basks under the 60 watt black light
at night mine climbs her rock and basks under the 60 watt black light
lindseymeder16
New Member
Ok..I want to get a leopard gecko soon. And my confusion is the heating aswell. What is a UTH?? So far I'm reading that the best thing is a heating mat. But there are so many kinds!!
Chameleon Loco
New Member
Under the tank heater
zoo med makes a good one
zoo med makes a good one
Ryan Jarosek
New Member
They don't really see the black light. It is seeking out the heat it is providing. It's not really basking like a chameleon basks.
Ryan Jarosek
New Member
UTH is under the tank heater. Another name for heat mat.
I agree, IMO Zoo Med makes the best one.
I prefer them over the rest.
