One Hide Problem

[sssnoot]

Hi all,

I adopted a leopard gecko yesterday. He came with a set up, but that set up only has one hide. I am unable to get to the store until tomorrow and I don't have any plastic containers to use as temporary hides, so I was wondering where the best place to put the hide would be. Should it go over the heat pad? Or not? How cold can leopard geckos get before it starts to harm them? Should I be more worried about him getting too warm? Sorry for all the questions, I want to do this right.
My house is kept at around 18-20 degrees Celsius, and my room is one of the colder ones. It's very chilly right now where I live, as it's the great Canadian winter.
Advice is very appreciated.

Newt

 

[Neon Aurora]

Welcome to GF =)

18-20 C shouldn't be an issue, really, as long as he has a heat pad providing a 32 C warm spot. =) As for lack of hides, I would probably put it on the warm side until you can get to the store tomorrow. If you wanted, you could cover the enclosure with a dark towel so he's comfortable moving anywhere.

Winters in the natural area of a leopard gecko get below 10 C, so I really wouldn't be overly concerned. Of course it would not be good to just drop the temperature suddenly or anything, but they deal with cold quite well. I've actually heard of more problems occurring due to being too hot than too cold. Just be sure that your warm side has a floor temp of 32 C and that your cool side temps don't get above 23 C. If the room ever gets below 15 C, you may consider providing a ceramic heating element overhead (probably want to run it on a lamp dimmer) to raise the air temps a bit.

You may also be able to make a makeshift hide until tomorrow. Really anything works, it doesn't have to be plastic. An old piece of cardboard, a paper towel roll cut in half, etc.

As always, since he came from someone who only provided one hide, he may not have had proper care, so I here is a very basic checklist of things you should have (not assuming you haven't done research, just trying to be helpful):
1 cool hide, 1 warm, and 1 humid
Digital thermometer with temperature probe OR infrared temperature gun (to measure floor temps, should be 32 C)
Calcium and vitamin supplements
A solid substrate
Thermostat

 

[Theshiggityshwa]

My gecko went two years without 2 hides, man. I think you'll be okay.