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leopard gecko help

dupont1990

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I need some help with my new leopard gecko. I've had her for about a week now. She appears to be a healthy 35 gram female. I have not seen her out in the open, except for when i got her. My questions/concerns are about her eating habits and temperature

I have her currently in a twenty gallon long tank. I use an UTH for the hot spot that reads anywhere from 88 to 90 degrees with a temp gun. My questions are about lighting for more heat. I use a 75 watt infrared bulb on the warm side directly above the hiding place 24 hours a day, and it reads only 81 during the day, and at night it falls to 77. Is this ok? I also use a blue 75 watt incandescent bulb during the day, but the temperature still seems to only increase by a few degrees. The temperature on the cool side ranges from low 60's at night, to 70 during the day. Is this acceptable? I have a 100 watt basking spot lamp and a 50 watt black bulb available as well. Any ideas on a good light combination to regulate the temps? Maybe someone who lives in New England where the nights are starting to get very cold? I don't want to cook her, but I want her to have enough heat. I have read numerous care sheets, and it seems like everyone has different ideas on lights.

My next questions regard her eating habits. I purchased her from a breeder who fed mealworms exclusively. I have offered her five regular sized mealworms nightly, however she has not touched them. Two nights I placed a waxworm in the dish with the mealworms and that was eaten. Could she just be picky, adapting to the new tank, or could this be related to the temperatures? Having not seen her much, I can't tell whether her fat stores or weight is dropping.

I do not want to keep making changes to my tank, as to not stress her out further. Also, any ideas on when a good time to handle her would be? At night before i feed her or during the day?
 
Your Gecko is still adapting to its new home since you only had her for a week, my geckos didnt eat for the first week either, what i recommend doing is getting rid of all the lights it stresses geckos out because they are crepuscular, and only need belly warmth to digest.Since winter is arriving geckos go into brumation, so they slow down and eat less with this cold weather which is normal, but if you want her to have more appetite and be more active then i recommend getting ceramic heat emitters, they dont produce light, so it wont stress your gecko, now the ideal temps are somewhere from 88-92 on the hot side and 75-80 on the cool side during the day, during the night time you can keep the hot side around 80 degrees than that be perfect and the cool side no colder than 70-75 degrees, you dont want to cook your geckos with all the lights, they need to thermoregulate. Also waxworms can be addictive to geckos, and are only used on animals that are severely skinny, so just keep trying to use mealworms or crickets since geckos like to eat things that move in a lively manner.
 
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