Hi Boo--- Let me make some recommendations. Do you have Lyle Puente's small book on leopard geckos? Much useful info will be found within those pages. I recommend that you get one of these Hanging Lamp Stands by ZooMed so that you can safely suspend your light right above one end of the cage. These go for about $25 each. It "helps prevent accidental tipping or knocking over. The lamp stand has a platform that slides under the cage. The arm is adjustable up and down, out and in, and rotates 360 degrees. Extends from 20" to 36"." (www.beanfarm.com---1-877-708-5882) I keep my 1.1.1 leopards between 70-85 degrees. They seem to do fine at these temps. I think it is hard to keep a temperature gradient within a ten gallon, but if your lows at night are about 70, then I'd turn off the light completely at night.
A 100 w, probably a 75 w, bulb on a 10 gallon tank is definitely too much!!! For a ten gallon vivarium, a 60w will probably be fine. For about $10 you can buy a dimmer with a slide adjustment for more exacting temperature control. (The light just plugs right into the dimmer.) On/off heat every 30 minutes would certainly stress me out!! You could use the timer for about 14 hours of light and 10 hours of darkness. Hope this helps, Elizabeth In a message dated 8/25/2004 11:16:24 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Boo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >all the temperature literature... just sort of confuses me. i seem to be >doing fine but i want better info. > >i have a 10 gallon terrerium with a teenager leopard gal. >i keep the light on my right hand side when facing the front of the >terrerium. its on a stand away from the wall >with a screen cover. >i use the red bulbs. > >the pet store told me to get a 75 watt and a timer.... i thought that kept >it too cold when the timer was off as it always goes down to 70 or maybe >lower on the cold side. > >so i got a 100 watt that is set to time for 30 min on, 30 min off all day >and night. that puts it at 88 when on but the hot side is 70 when the timer >is off. > >then it occured to me, what if i ran the 75 watt full time. it would keep it >at 75 full time. > >however, what are the heating hazard of that on the cage screen all day 7 >days a week. > >and should the gecko really be more than 75 then? > >should i stick with what i've been doing with the 100 watt at 30 min on, 30 >min off ? > >should i keep the 100 on at all times so the terrerium is always 88 on the >hot side? > >oye, my biggest fear is catching the screen on fire. > >the second fear is that its a 10 gallon with one gal in it. what if the cold >side is too cold for too long? sure she hangs out on the warm side when the >timer is off and even often times when it is on. > >but is that going to make her ill with the constant on and off of the heat? > >then there is the whole "ambiant temperature" thing. > >i think the bigger question is, do i really need the timer? am i timing the >heat appropriate? should i stick with the 100 watt or use the 75 watt? > >_______________________________________________ >Global Gecko Association >http://www.gekkota.com >Classifieds >http://www.gekkota.com/cgi-gekkota/classifieds.cgi >gecko mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >http://lists.gekkota.com/mailman/listinfo/gecko > _______________________________________________ Global Gecko Association http://www.gekkota.com Classifieds http://www.gekkota.com/cgi-gekkota/classifieds.cgi gecko mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.gekkota.com/mailman/listinfo/gecko
