new to leopard geckos

hello there , basically i got my leopard gecko on tuesday and he hasent eaten very much .. is that because he is in a new invirament?? he as eaten in total 7 crickets over the last 2 days .... 3 on tuesday night and 4 last night... is it best to feed him when i turn the uv light off in his tank?? because that is what im gunna try n do tonight... coz he tends to eat the crickets when im asleep.... also im leavin the uv light on from 8 in the mornin till 8 at night is that ok?? dnt want him gettin to cold ...

oh and also i have wax worm for him and he dnt seem to eat them at all lol????

Hi Sarah and welcome to the forum

First off, 7 crickets in two days is a fine amount. That is nothing to worry about at all. If he carries on eating like that he will grow big and strong in no time.

Second, the UV light is likely doing more bad than it is good. UV serves absolutely no purpose to leopard gecko's. So by buying it, you've wasted money unfortuantely. Also, the gecko's will be asleep while it is on as they are crepuscular/nocturnal, so they won't get any use out of it. Also, the UV lights can cause large temperature fluctuations within the the environment which can be bad. They can also serve a great a deal of stress to your leo's as they are often to bright for their nocturnal eyes. ALSO if you supplement your gecko with d3, the UV can help put your gecko at risk of a D3 overdose, which im afraid can be fatal.

So to put it into one sentence; the UV light needs to go.

If you need any help in terms of housing, there is a great caresheet in the 'Caresheets' section about housing. It goes through a lot of details which will help.


To help with your feeding problems, If the gecko doesn't eat the waxworms, then thats a bonus. Waxworms are very fatty, so should only be used as a treat, so if they don't want to eat it then thats great. No point eating a burger if you prefer a salad.
As a breeder i would recommend mealworms, many keepers find they are the easiest option.

PS, i have edited your post to make the picture more veiwable rather than as an attachment.

hi ya thanks lol

but the thing is with the uv light it is only a 25 watt bolb n if i dnt have it on its only about 80 c in the tank just with the heat matt .... bt with the uv it gose up to 90 c.... which is what it needs to be.. plus the man at the pet shop said it is ok n he dnt seemed bothered by the light.... so if i dnt have it is it gunna be to cold in the tank... my tank is 3ft by 1 ft so it is pretty big n i have got the biggest heat matt out there for it ... it is ovousily only on one side tho ... it i really confusein coz some people tell u one thing n some people tell u another i dnt want lil elmo ( gecko ) to get to cold ...n he had the same ub light only smaller in the tank he was in at the pet shop .

oh and also wen the uv light is on he dnt ever go in his hide out to get away from it or anything ... its like he is sun bathein ... coz ov the uv light is ment to represent the sun lol

Hi, many pet stores think UV lights are necessary but its just a common misconception, there is absolutely no need for them. Gecko's don't come out in the day in their natural environment so the sun has never been important for them or for growth. Hence causing the problems mentioned in my last post.

If the temperature remain too low, then a 50watt infrared bulb shouldhelp supplement the heat.
However, most under tank heaters can provide an adequate amount of heat with no lights at all, so im curious as to why yours isn't. It may be due to your substrate being too thick, may i ask what your substrate is?

Hi again. Just stole this quote from our caresheet.

Seeing as how leos are crepuscular, there is no need to suppliment a uv valued light in order to provide your leo with optimum health benefits. Seeing as how they are not, in the wild, generally exposed to uv lighting they do not depend on uv values to aide in metabolism, supplimentation, and digestion like some other herps can. By providing your leo with a broad spectrum UV or flourescent light will only serve to stress your leo out as the light will be TOO bright (esp. for albino leos). If your leo is housed in a dark room where there is limited daylight, you can use a regular 15 watt incandescent light bulb to help establish a day/night cycle. Check with your local time and temperature station for the hours of sunset and sunrise and set a timer accordingly with the season changes to make sure your leo is properly cycling through the seasons. Setting a timer on a flat 12 hours on 12 hours off schedule is inaccurate if your attempt is to simulate the natural day/night cycle for your area.

If you need to suppliment heat that you may not be getting thru your under tank heater, whether it is because your substrait is too thick or your uth is undersized or under-performing, you can use a 50 watt infrared or 50 watt moonlight blue bulb to suppliment heat (this wattage is recommended for a standard 20 long viv). I have found that the infrared irritates my leo's eyes. He will not come out and explore if the red light is on but he will happily explore when his blue moonlight bulb is on. This is a subject of debate but from my own experiences I would presume the red light is bothersome and would prefer to use the blue. Experiment with both to see which is best suited for your particualr leo.

also here is a link to it: https://leopardgecko.forumotion.co.uk/t55-proper-housing-for-leopared-gecko#291

I hope this has helped.

i have calcium sand in my tank n it is not thick at all n the heat matt is inside the tank under the sand so im really confused to y it is not gettin enough heat ....so where do i get a moonlight blue bulb from? n how much are they?? n can u get them in the long tubes like the uv light? n can i have that on for 12 hours in a day? thanks

Ooh, calcium sand is bad.
Have you heard of impaction issues? Sand can be fatal to your leo over time, especially if he is fed on crickets.

To be honest im not quite sure where to buy good bulbs and stuff, personally i never use bulbs as i find them all unnecessary as a breeder.

The person to contact would be Kermit as she knows all about lights and bulbs. You can click her name just here or if you look at the caresheet, Kermit wrote it.
Sorry i couldn't help with the lights.

But the sand is a real issue, i would recommend swapping it for tiles or paper towels, or brown paper.

i have been hearin from every where that calcium sand is bas so ive been told if im gunna get sand i should get play sand??? do u recomend that and all??

hiya,
i think most of us on here use kitchen roll but i did used to use wood chip without any problems. personally i won't use sand but thats just because i dont like the noise it makes when it gets in the runners of the glass.

yh i agree with u on the sound it makes its horrible lol ...

Yeah I agree with Sam on it, ALL sand is considered bad to be honest.
The better option would be kitchen roll, slate or tiles.

The wood chip is okay as Sam mentioned, I've found that Aspen is good. So might be worth a google, it's really cheap too.

just tried googlein it n it dnt say much? lol.... see some people have told me not to get wood chip coz they can eat it easyer then sand thats why i got the sand lol

they dont normally eat the bigger wood chip usless they are lacking something in their diets, well thats what my vet told me lol

Hi Sarah my name is also sarah welcome to the world of gecko keeping. ^ ^

I thought uploading a pic of my vivarium to show you the tile substate would help



Tile is really good for substrate it warms up really well and it's the most natural substrate in the wild leopard gecko environment. It looks good, too It is available cheap and if you are lucky like me, the tile shops gives away free tiles that were once used in displays and cannot be sold

Hi Sarah and welcome to the forum. As everyone has said the sand is a big concern... notonly does it dry out your leo's skin which could lead to shedding problems, but the whole impaction issue just isn't worth teh risk.

One thing I noticed in your statement is that your tank is 80*C which would be like 176* F... I think you're a little mistaken on your temperature scale there hon. You want optimum temperatures between 88-93*F (or 31-34*C) for proper nutrition. Supplimenting heat with a blue moonlight bulb would be best if you wern't making those temps with your uth. The moonlight bulbs are relitively inexpensive and a 25-40 watt should suffice if you only need to make up like 5-7 degrees. Please substitute the blue light for your UV light as it is WAY too bright for your leo and it will cause him stress which could impact his eating. As explained the UV light serves no useful purpose to a leo. Could you tell me a little more about the uth you're using (brand size wattage etc) you might just have to upgrade to the next size up. You look like you have a pretty thick layer of sand in that tank so anything thicker than 2 inches is going to be really ahrd to hear thru given the nature of sand. It will disperse theheat thru the entire surface of the sand includign heating the air pockets in between the grains and you will lose a lot of your heat value that way. Switching substrait to stone tiles or vinyl simulated self adhesive tiles will work much better for your leo and clean up is so easy. If you go with the self adhesive tiles make sure they are the HIGH end tiles, something with texture and costs at least $2 each (something like 1.25 pounds according to the conversion calculator I used).

The eating sounds fair to me. Your leo looks healthy and fat and isn't starving so a little off appetite after moving in with you isn't unusual or unexpected. Just keep offering food on a regular schedule. Leos older than 6 mos don't need to eat every day. I feed my leo 3x a week since he was late 6 mos early 7 mos old and he grew wonderfully. As long as he is pooing on a regular schedule you should be fine.

gothicgurl... i cant really see ur pic lol they a bit to small could u make them bigger for me so i can see the tyles properly

kermit... thanks for the advice it really help i am lookin into gettin a moonlight for the tank and my tank is at 90F durin the day and 82F durin the night wen i turn me light off... my sand is not to thick it is the end i dont have the heat matt bt over the heat matt there is a very thin layer defo not to inches.... u touch it just a lil n the heat matt is exsposed ... where would i get thease tyles from?? bnq or sumink .. dnt knw if u have that in america , prob just a hardwear shop to u lol... im guessin im only gettin a thin bit of tyle .. i think i will defo do that.... but for now as i have no money for the min as avin a few money problems i have put more hide outs in his viv so that he can hide from the uv ... and he is eatin fine now ... had five crickets last night he just prefuers eatin at night i think.... my uv light is only a 25watt bulb and it is made by exo terrer i think .. company that sells everything for reptiles

haha sorry I did try to make it bigger but it wouldn't work lol

lets see what if it attaches my big photos this time

well they are attachment soo you should be able to save them to your computer and have a look now.

what that in the box in the left hand side at the botten?? is it sand? x

do u knw can u get moonlight in a strip light coz thats what my uv is n i dont fancy makin any more holes in my tank lol

yeah its a litter tray.. and they works it's great for cleaning up. most herps choose a preferred place to poop and they always go there sooo i just found that place and put a plastic tub lid with abit of sand in and put some of her poops in kermit uses a litter tray thing too

and im not sure about the moonlight thing.. ask kermit, she knows all about the different bulbs you can use.

I know that it annoying.. i was told that i needed a UV light and it cost alot for the thing that the uv light goes into and everything.. and then i discovered that the pet shop were wrong and it was a waste of money. i have the UV light still in my viv but just keep it turned off all the time, except when im cleaning sooo i can see in the corners of the viv.

you don't need to use any lighting you have use low watt normal household bulbs if you wanna see your tank and stuff..

lol thats pretty cool x

yeah i was thinkin of just goin and gettin a noral strip light.... can i do that rather then use a moonlight kermit??

thanks you should use one.. they makes it easy to clean.. just tip the sand in the bin and put a bit more sand it. its a way of not wasting my sand that i was told to buy with my leopard gecko by the pet shop. I have a massive £10 bag of red sand for nothing.. so i may as well use it for something.