Gary's New Gear
I got Gary some new supplies for his tank, and soon he will be upgrading to a larger tank. He is nearly 6 inches long, and I estimate that he is almost 6 months old. At this age, leopard geckos begin to lose their baby stripes and change their primary body color to yellow. I got him a cholla wood hide that has many natural openings and textures to climb on. It was such a big piece that only the cholla log, water dish, and cave fit in his current 10"x18" tank, but they will both be on the hot side of his new 24"x18" tank. The larger tank will also have room for the T-rex skull and other decorations and hides.
Most important with a larger space is controlling the temperature gradient. Reptiles are ectotherms, so they rely on external heat sources to maintain their body temperature. A tank needs a hot and cool side so the reptile can go to different areas to adjust their body temperature. Since leopard geckos sleep during most of the day, they get "belly heat" from rocks that have been sitting in the sun all day. To simulate this in an artificial environment, the terrarium has a daytime heat light that automatically turns on for 12 hours a day. This usually creates enough heat to stay a comfortable 70 degrees at night. As the weather cools, and with a larger space to maintain temperature, an under-tank heater (UTH) becomes necessary. The UTH is plugged into a thermostat with a probe to monitor the spot temperature of the warm basking rocks. When the spot temperature is higher than the thermostat setting, the plugged-in heat source turns off until the spot temperature falls below the set temperature. At night I keep it set for 75 degrees, and this keeps the cooler side of the tank just under 70 degrees. The heat lamp is usually plenty during the day, but if he needed extra heat I could set it for 85. The minimum temperature leopard geckos can live in comfortably is 62 degrees, and the maximum is over 93 degrees.