Is this heater too warm for my pictus geckos?

[jreidsma]

Hi everyone

I am the proud new owner of a male and two female pictus geckos, but I have ran into a problem possibly.

The under tank heater I have may be too warm. I put a non-electric thermometer on top of where it is and it is reading 100 degrees F. From what I understand in the 80s is a good day time temperature and one website said that 88 is a good basking spot temperature. My room stays around 80 during the day time.

So, is this heater too hot? If so what can I do about it? It also will be warmer once they get moved into my room by a few degrees maybe even 5.

I don't know if these even exist or not but I was thinking that maybe there was some sort of switch or gauge that I could plug the heater into that I could set it on half strength? Or do I have to just buy a different heater again? (Long story short this is the second heater, and yes I had looked these animals up plenty and everything before going and getting them.)

 

[Entomancer]

First, you should go buy a infrared temperature "gun".

They're far more accurate than pretty much anything else, and the 30-dollar model should be fine for a couple of geckos (I use it for all of my animals, including geckos).

As for the actual problem you have, you could get a smaller heating pad or you could buy a thermostat to hold down the temperature.

It would also help if you could explain the make and model of the heating pad, plus tell us about the enclosure or take some photos of it; sometimes heat builds up in unexpected ways, and just making minor changes to the setup can alleviate overheating problems.

 

[jreidsma]

Sorry for the very delayed reply.

It has been resolved While at a reptile show someone there recommended a plug in dimmer like used with lamps. We went and bought one and that worked perfectly.

Thanks

 

[The Snark]

IR temp 'gun' measures surface temps. That won't always give you an accurate ambient air temp reading. In the hospital with all the modern day measuring devices, the standard is still a mercury thermometer just as a mercury column will never be replaced as the test standard for BPs.

Ultra cheap temp control. Get a regular light dimmer capable of handling the wattage of your heating element and dial it on in. If they goofy-ize you by giving you amps and voltage, just calculate: P(watts)=I(current in amps)xE(voltage). As example, 3.5 amp 120 volt heater=3.5x120=420 watts. Light dimmers commonly come 1,200 watt capable (10 amp)