Heating Problem Help!?!

I have a slate rock placed at the bottom of my leo tank I'm redoing. It's grey and about 1/2" thick I would say, covering most of the heating pad. I can't move it further away because it's the main piece and too large. Will heat be held in this well enough to keep my baby warm enough or should I take it out and keep the heating pad are with just some substrate like before?

You'll have to monitor the heat over the uth with a probe thermometer and see if its heating thru. The nature of slate is it will heat the entire surface since its natural stone rather than making a hot "spot" say as it would if you were using a thinner substrait suck as vinyl simulated slate. Usually anything a half inch thick or thicker I recommend upgrading to the next size uth for the higher wattage to compensate for the thicker substrait. Sometimes it can take a day or so for a thicker piece of slate to throughly heat thru and get to temp. If after 48 hours of consistant heating your temps are too low you're either going to have to upgrade the uth, go with a thinner substrait, or add a secondary heat source such as a low wattage moonlight blue heat bulb which can add around 6 degrees fr a 25 watt bulb.

Kermit wrote:You'll have to monitor the heat over the uth with a probe thermometer and see if its heating thru. The nature of slate is it will heat the entire surface since its natural stone rather than making a hot "spot" say as it would if you were using a thinner substrait suck as vinyl simulated slate. Usually anything a half inch thick or thicker I recommend upgrading to the next size uth for the higher wattage to compensate for the thicker substrait. Sometimes it can take a day or so for a thicker piece of slate to throughly heat thru and get to temp. If after 48 hours of consistant heating your temps are too low you're either going to have to upgrade the uth, go with a thinner substrait, or add a secondary heat source such as a low wattage moonlight blue heat bulb which can add around 6 degrees fr a 25 watt bulb.

Yeaa I know about the checking temps, I REALLY have been meaning to get a probe, but waiting till next month when I go to the NY expo. Just to be on the safe side I went without the slate and put some coco fiber just in the bedding/heated area. Thank you though!

Your gecko can't wait till next month for a thermmeter with a probe. He needs it now if not he won't be able to digest his food or get sick.

peach75 wrote:Your gecko can't wait till next month for a thermmeter with a probe. He needs it now if not he won't be able to digest his food or get sick.

I KNOW he has enough heat as of now. He has a heater under the tank, i DID NOT put the rock below as to not block ANY and I have him ontop of and RIGHT next to a 100w heat bulb for the tank below him. his tank is always about 82 on the cool side and high 90s on the warm side, but i just dont have an EXACT reading for when the rock is on top. he is very healthy right now. I make sure the house, his tank, and all the others are warm. (which it definitely is with 3 fish tank heaters, his heater, the heater next to/below him, and other heaters in the room. He has a nice fat tail, is eating well, his feces is looking fine with everything well digested and not runny. He is active and definitely is getting what he needs. I understand your concern but I have owned many animals my whole life from other reptiles, to kinkajou, macaws, and a bunch of exotic animals with special needs as well as helping raise and care for animals for years at a bird place and reptile rescue as well as my parents having a lifetime of experience with many other exotic animals as well. i have a different thermometer right now, besides the cage ones, that isnt that great but tells me within about 2 degrees. I just wanted to ask about how well that stone will let heat through, but i suppose that's a stupid question since nobody can see the exact size or anything like that, i just need to measure it myself, and i decided not to use it as to not put my gecko in ANY risk of being too cold. I always monitor room and all cage and tank temperatures, I'm more careful than I came across at first. I care more than anything about the heath, safety, and happiness for my pets. Here I will post a picture of his tank so you can see, and I will post a video I took recently of him so you can at least see how he looks.

As I said, cool side is 82-84 and hot side around 94. (heated on right with coco fiber area which I do not feed him in his tank so he doesn't ingest any) humidity hide with moss, vermiculite, and a little coco fiber. Rock hide on heated end and 2 coconut hides on cool end.

This is him 3 months old now about.
https://youtu.be/qJj5aq6vhfQ

He was looking a little thin in the video above because it was getting time for him to fill up with some insects. :] But not bad or anything I don't think.

Just so you are aware you can pick up a probe thermometer at places like lowes or home depot for about 7$ or even at wal mart as well for around that price. There really is no need to wait until an expo comes along just for a probe thermometer. There really is no need to get all defensive, we just want to help you to be able to provide the best environment for your leo as possible. Honestly coco fiber isn't a good substrait. It can get into his eyes and ears and cause all kinds of issues. You'd be better off just using paper towels until you can properly monitor your floor temps with the slate in there.

Kermit wrote:You'll have to monitor the heat over the uth with a probe thermometer and see if its heating thru. The nature of slate is it will heat the entire surface since its natural stone rather than making a hot "spot" say as it would if you were using a thinner substrait suck as vinyl simulated slate. Usually anything a half inch thick or thicker I recommend upgrading to the next size uth for the higher wattage to compensate for the thicker substrait. Sometimes it can take a day or so for a thicker piece of slate to throughly heat thru and get to temp. If after 48 hours of consistant heating your temps are too low you're either going to have to upgrade the uth, go with a thinner substrait, or add a secondary heat source such as a low wattage moonlight blue heat bulb which can add around 6 degrees fr a 25 watt bulb.

Yea this is what I figured, I didn't want him to get cold and didn't really want to have to buy more heating, so I just didn't put rock in the heated area :] Thank you though!

I think your tank would look really nice if you were to just use some high end vinyl simulated slate peel and stick tiles. It would be much safer, is really inexpensive to buy, like 2$ a tile, easy to cut and looks great. That's what I use in my viv and we have excellent heat . Just to give you an idea how it would look





I use a 6x11 7 watt cobra heat mat and have seen my temps get as high as 106*F with using the vinyl tiles. They heat thru wonderfully.

Kermit wrote:I think your tank would look really nice if you were to just use some high end vinyl simulated slate peel and stick tiles. It would be much safer, is really inexpensive to buy, like 2$ a tile, easy to cut and looks great. That's what I use in my viv and we have excellent heat . Just to give you an idea how it would look





I use a 6x11 7 watt cobra heat mat and have seen my temps get as high as 106*F with using the vinyl tiles. They heat thru wonderfully.

That looks very cool. I know my parents had some tiling in their basement. Next time I go over I might have to check it out. I have everything placed very securely though, so nothing is really unsafe. I'm always looking to improve the tanks though.

Mine is also creatively stacked so it's secure. Only thing I glued was the little tree holding up the cold side hide platform.