Hep/opinions on picking out an LED bulb for night viewing of my loepard gecko

[Jumbothegecko]

First time posting to any reptile forums, neat!

I just recently got my first leopard gecko (juvenile rainwater albino) after doing weeks of research on all sorts of websites and forums and have come to realize that there's still A LOT for me to learn.

-SETUP, ETC-
We've got his heating setup properly getting out all the right temps and use a combo of a heat mat w/ thermostat and a red 50 or 75W incandescent zilla bulb for the air temps. It's got a dimmer with it and to get it to the right temperature it only has to be around 30% of the way ON, so it's not bright at all. We keep the mat on 24/7 and turn the red light off in the evening around 5 or so to let the temps get back down for night. During the day I leave the CFL on for a couple of hours (i know this doesn't benefit him at all but I think it helps establish a more clear day/night schedule since the lighting in this room is otherwise horrible) but at the moment it's way too bright for my liking and I've got a dimmer on its way to tone it down. The CFL's more for me than Jumbo probably, I admit, but it's rather dark in there without it.

We've got our whole setup in the office where my boyfriend and I spend all of our time at home and turn the room lights off for Jumbo around 7 or 8PM depending on when I get my homework done. It's completely dark in his cage during this time and that's fine for him, of course, but I'd like to see him! I don't need a light to provide any extra heat, just a dim little red or blue light to have on at night for an hour or two before going to bed (we'd turn it off upon leaving, no need to keep it on all night) so I can look over and see him scampering around. This is really the only time of the day we get to see him as of yet (he's still acclimating) and I love to watch him.

Generally the air temperature on the cool side hovers around 76F or 77F during the day and dips to 72F at night.
On the hot side the air's about 82F (and drops of course at night, too, I haven't recorded that temp though).
The ground on the hot side is at maximum 92F and is about 85F in other places of it.


Here are some pics of the setup and our little guy:
Jumbo: http://orig11.deviantart.net/ab94/f/2016/023/0/6/little_baby_by_kfcemployee-d9p29c8.jpg (this is the day we first got him, five days ago, and since then the shed on his toes has been removed!)
The setup during the day: http://orig11.deviantart.net/d1b4/f/2016/027/c/6/leo_layout_by_kfcemployee-d9pk6ck.jpg



So now finally to my actual question.
I'd like your opinions on using a normal LED low wattage blue or red bulb for an hour or two at night for viewing. We're turning it off when we leave the room since we only have it on for that purpose and the gecko would be better off without it anyhow.
I'd be buying a dimmer for it as well because I'm almost sure it'd be too strong.
So, is it okay to use any of these bulbs for strictly viewing?

Sunlite 80148 Red LED A19 3 Watt: Robot Check
Sunlite 80256-SU T10/6LED/1W/C/B LED 120-volt 0.5-watt: Robot Check
Bulbrite 10G12B 10W G12 Globe 120V Light Bulb: Robot Check

PLEASE feel free to recommend any other bulbs that could work for this too that I may be leaving out! I trust you guys way more than little old me and google search.
If these would be too disturbing for our gecko during the couple hours we'd have it on, then what else would you suggest?

So far I've tried a 75W Exoterra Night Glo which ended up heating the cool side's air to a ripe 89F (I'll be returning this) but had perfect lighting
And a 15W exoterra Night glo which didn't give off heat but didn't even show any light whatsoever. So good on the heat, but no purpose.

Also if there's anything glaringly wrong you've noticed with our setup then please feel free to let us know, too. We've been messing with it for the past four days and think it's just about right now but this is my first proper reptile so your advice is very much appreciated.



Thank you guys for your time!!

 

[acpart]

welcome to GF. The setup looks fine to me. I'm not much help with lights because I don't use them for my leopard geckos. (I do use them for most of my other geckos that are in planted tanks, and in that case I get grow-light compact fluorescents 26watt). My geckos are all in the living room and dining room. I spend most of the evening there --I can be up till 2 or 3 in the morning-- with the room lights on and the geckos are fine with it. There are bay windows in each room so during the day there is a lot of natural light. You may do fine with just a floor lamp that will cast a dim light through the whole room. My house can get down into the 60's at night, but I figure that's what the warm hides are for.

Aliza

 

[indyana]

Just a note, I use 13W UVB100 Exo Terra lighting on all my leopard geckos, and then don't mind it as long as their hides provide darkness. If you like using a day-night light cycle, try arranging the hides so that light doesn't shine into them, facing away from the brightest areas.

As for night viewing, I bought a red LED hunting flashlight a while ago and use that to peek in when I'm curious. I don't typically run lights at night otherwise. Sorry I can't be more help, but I think you'll probably have luck with a dim LED light at for a little while at night. In the wild, they have to deal with the moon being around, after all.

 

[Jumbothegecko]

welcome to GF. The setup looks fine to me. I'm not much help with lights because I don't use them for my leopard geckos. (I do use them for most of my other geckos that are in planted tanks, and in that case I get grow-light compact fluorescents 26watt). My geckos are all in the living room and dining room. I spend most of the evening there --I can be up till 2 or 3 in the morning-- with the room lights on and the geckos are fine with it. There are bay windows in each room so during the day there is a lot of natural light. You may do fine with just a floor lamp that will cast a dim light through the whole room. My house can get down into the 60's at night, but I figure that's what the warm hides are for.

Aliza

Thanks for sharing your setup/experience! It's comforting to see that you can keep your room lights on and not stress them out or anything. That opens up our options a lot! We're thinking about getting a lamp stand and hanging the red heat lamp on it at night and setting it to full brightness/enough brightness to see. That way the heat wouldn't affect him very much, if at all, since it'd be maybe 5 or so inches above the cage's top, but we'd still get to look at him with with the red light. We also think we might keep the room's lamp on at night. It's in the corner and lets us look at him just enough to satisfy.

 

[Jumbothegecko]

Just a note, I use 13W UVB100 Exo Terra lighting on all my leopard geckos, and then don't mind it as long as their hides provide darkness. If you like using a day-night light cycle, try arranging the hides so that light doesn't shine into them, facing away from the brightest areas.

As for night viewing, I bought a red LED hunting flashlight a while ago and use that to peek in when I'm curious. I don't typically run lights at night otherwise. Sorry I can't be more help, but I think you'll probably have luck with a dim LED light at for a little while at night. In the wild, they have to deal with the moon being around, after all.

Thank you!
The insides of the hides are enveloped in darkness so much that I can barely even see Jumbo in them with the lights on! So I think that's good And I'm glad to see that the 13W CFL's are okay!
The red LED flashlight is a good idea. We were thinking we might use a reptile lamp stand at night to bring the red heat bulb higher above the tank and turning it to its full power, so there'd be not much heat getting into the cage to affect him while also providing enough light to view!