Leo setup

i used to have all three of my males living together in about a 50gal cage i created, but it had a mesh door and with the dropping temps i couldnt get the heat over 70degrees, and two of my males just hit adult age and started nipping each others tails, so i switched them to a steralite three drawer system, each drawer is larger then my 10gal tank. they each have there own. i am currently using heat lamps and there staying at 96degrees hot side now. I do not have heat pads because currently i can not afford one, between my 13month old daughter, bills and now medical due to me having cancer. is there any way i can make them more comfortable in there homes? water changed daily "one uses the bowl as a toilet" non slip mat for the floors, 3 hides on hot side, 3 on cool side, false plants to make the cool side "dark" so the light wont bother them on that side at all. i have rocks that get 96degrees on the hot side for basking to absorb heat because i know they do it threw there bellys. they get fed every 2-3 days, depending on what there mood is "two will wait a extra day and wont touch there food on the 2nd day" I will post pics when i can

sounds pretty good to me. the one thing is to NEVER house males togeather. and as long as you have rocks under the heat light, so they absorb the heat and stay warm, that is fine. alot of people argue this, but it only makes sense...in the wild, is the sun underground or in the sky....? duh, right! the sun heats the rocks up, and the lizards lay on the rocks and absorb the heat through thier bellies...so there is nothing wrong with this set up, as long as your hot spot is getting to between 93 and 95, you are golden. i have a thousand dollar gecko in a display cage, and the setup is pretty much the same. i have red and purple lights above....which heats the rocks to the perfect temps. the cage floor is covered in varying sizes of flat river rock, and is staggered and made into caves, crags, and lots of different climbing faces....nothing more than six inches from the ground. i use my temp gun regularly, as this cage is in my bedroom, and not my thermostatically controlled gecko room. my cage temperatures range from 78 on the coolest corner, to 98 right on the top layer of the 'cave system'. there is a three degree temp difference in each level to the ground...it is perfect. and my leopard utilizes every inch, and thermoregulates as she should. so i would not worry as long as your temps are good, the rest of your setup sounds fine.

I have to agree with Rick. You should never house males together as they will fight for dominace and usually ends up being a fatallity and incrediably stressful for them x

well when i first got the two youngest males they where not mature yet, they didnt have the bulges or the dots above the vents. i housed them together since i first got them, then housed the oldest male with them later when i got him, not till last week did they start fighting, and thats when i noticed the two youngest developed bulges, so i re-housed them all as soon as i got the chance to. and that you for your advise

thank you* and a note, i thought the two youngest where female till they developed X_x. i will use a LED light for now on when i get any new ones, since i found out even with babies the LED shined from behind will show ovaries if its female

Nicky, why don't you sell your heat lamps and use the money to buy heat mats? If items are costed the same as here, then you could probably sell one heat lamp and use the money to buy 3 small heat pads. Here in SA, the clamp lamp holders are really expensive but I don't know where you are situated.

you could also try getting some heat tape if its cheaper. i find it very annoying how pricey heat mats are but they really are important for leos. so i would try and save up and get them as soon as possible.

Im not using clamp lamps, im using uvb grow lights made for.plants, they work the same, left overs from my chameleon I used to own but sold when I moved back to my parents because my dad wouldn't allow a 'giant' lizard in his house. But she was a adult veiled in a 3'x4' cage so kinda understandable. I check my temps in the cage.many times a day and after having to move one lamp already due to some plasic melting on the outside, I need to figure a way to keep any mats or tape off the plasic cages