Help with heating

[K.Walter]

Hi,
I get my first leopard gecko in a few days and my temps just aren't right. I have a 3ft 3" x 1ft 3" x 1ft 3" glass vivarium I have excavator clay as substrate. I currently have a DHP, a 5% UVB bulb AND a CHE set up. The DHP is above the basking spot with 2 slate tiles. I have an Exo Terra dimming day and night thermostat attached to the DHP with the probe directly under it ontop of the slate, I have it set to 94 but the slate heats up and the rear of the tank stays relatively cooler, the cool side is reading 68 and the middle is 69. I have 2 thermometers one on the cool side and one in the middle. Side note when I have the thermometer and thermostat probe beside each other they read widely different temps.
I need help before I get the little guy!

I have attached a photo of the current set up.

 

[Mr. Leopard gecko]

Hi,
I get my first leopard gecko in a few days and my temps just aren't right. I have a 3ft 3" x 1ft 3" x 1ft 3" glass vivarium I have excavator clay as substrate. I currently have a DHP, a 5% UVB bulb AND a CHE set up. The DHP is above the basking spot with 2 slate tiles. I have an Exo Terra dimming day and night thermostat attached to the DHP with the probe directly under it ontop of the slate, I have it set to 94 but the slate heats up and the rear of the tank stays relatively cooler, the cool side is reading 68 and the middle is 69. I have 2 thermometers one on the cool side and one in the middle. Side note when I have the thermometer and thermostat probe beside each other they read widely different temps.
I need help before I get the little guy!

I have attached a photo of the current set up.

Not sure what to tell you as I am not an expert, just hang on tight until a expert arrives. Your enclosure looks amazing!

 

[K.Walter]

Not sure what to tell you as I am not an expert, just hang on tight until a expert arrives. Your enclosure looks amazing!

Thank you!!!

 

[acpart]

I can see that with the excavator clay it would be hard to use an under tank heater. I'm not a big fan of worrying too much about exact temperatures and my geckos have done fine. Essentially the warm side needs to be in the low 90's and definitely not in the high 90's or 100's because then the gecko will either stay away from it or get burned. So as long as it's not too hot, the warm side should be . . . warm. It's not unusual for there to be hot spots and differences though I don't know why the 2 probes would be that different (unless one is of greatly inferior quality and just not measuring accurately). Ideally you have a hide on the warm side which will trap warm air so if your gecko is cold, it can go into the hide and be warm. You write that you have a basking spot --I have some leopard geckos that spend most of their time out of their hides and even sleep out of their hides so you could say they're basking, but most leopard geckos (especially juveniles) spend time inside their hides and they're really not basking.
In my opinion, as long as the temperature on the cool side (both air and floor) is comfortable for humans, it should be fine for leopard geckos. There is a tendency to make the enclosure way too hot. High 60's on the cool side should be fine.
I do wonder a bit about having a DHP and a CHE. It's an awful lot of heat and tends to dry up the air and dehydrate the gecko. Maybe get rid of the CHE and see how that goes. I think things are likely good enough for your new arrival.

Aliza