New owner

Hi Guys!, So over the past 2 weeks i have been getting things for my Leopard gecko ( Havent bought him yet ) But i have just a few questions and would like your opinions on them

Set up:
Tank: 20 Gal. long
UTH: Exo Terra Desert Small
I have 2 hides a Small hide on the Cool side and a larger Hide on the warm side above the UTH
Substrate: Repti Carpet (for now)
I also have 2 dishes in there one for water and one i will use for mealworms. Also im breeding crickets right now and was wondering if just crickets would be ok to feed it?

My first question is lighting? i've seen set ups with anywhere from 1 to 3 lights, I know not to use a UVB bulb, but does the cool side need to be a certain temp at "night"? ATM im waiting on the local petstore to get the right light bulbs in im going to use a moonlight bulb for the warm side but have no clue about how to keep the cool side the right temp

At the moment that is the only questions i have but im sure i will have more as i continue to build the tank up.

Well, the small UTH is too small for the 20 gal long. You want your UTH to cover 1/3rd of the floor space of the enclosure. I really recommend getting rid of the repti-carpet as teeth can get caught when hunting and you'll never be able to sufficiently sanitize it.

You do not need lights at all, period. With a proper sized UTH, you're creating a temperature gradient allowing the gecko to chose how hot or how cool it wants to be.

As for crickets, if you gutload them with different foods before feeding you can seemingly get by on just crickets. An I mean, a two week rotation of different foods that are appropriate to gutload with. It would be wise, though, to use meal worms and crickets in a variance so that there is different foods available.

Thanks for the info!
And thats what my thoughts were on the UTH ... curretly its is sitting at around 80 to 85 degrees on the warm side with no lights just the small UTH and the carpet ... i was given 2 rolls of carpet brand new and im going to use them up should last me 2 weeks while i draw up a plan for a better tank layout and wait for some cash flow i also live in a colder North eastern state state so the winters here are cold could i leave the smal UTH on the cool side to help keep the tank from being to cold when i change the substrate to tile or will it still be to warm for a cool side?

Also ive seen a couple DYI on moist hide boxes but are damp paper towels ok to use or should i go out and buy some spanish moss?

Welcome to the forum. Everything you need to know about making the proper set up for your leo, you can find a link in Kodie's signature area. As a matter of fact ALL the links in Kodie's signature area are MUST READS for any new leo owner in my opinion. I live in North West Pennsylvania so it seems we get similar temps if your north eastern states (unless you're like in New England, then you're colder than me), but I use a 6x11 7 watt cobra heat mat and use vinyl simulated peel and stick slate tiles in my viv and have no problems getting my temps up to 98*F or higher with out the rheostat on. It's gotten as high as 106. Exo terra really isn't a really reliable uth in my opinopn. even Zoo med would be a better quality uth, but you could order a cobra heat mat on line for about the same price as you would buy one in a petshop and have it in about 4 days. Cobra (either ultratherm or T-Rex) are really top of the line for the price.

Like Kodie mentioned you really don't need to worry too much about your cool side until it gets below 65*F. THen all you would need is to suppliment heat with a 25 watt moonlight blue bulb. No need to try to create a day/night cycle for your leo as long as he is in a room with a window, that's all the lighting they really need. Also you haven't mentioned what suppliments you plan on using. There's a great link here http://www.leopardgeckoforum.com/t2888-how-to-basics-on-supplimenting-your-leo on the baiscs of supplimenting your leo properly.

Hope that helps