Thick tailed temperature affecting eating?

[Tevalo]

hey i don't have any heat for my thick tailed gecko and i got him earlier this year so the temps stayed at around 25 degrees but now its going down to around 20 degrees. Could this affect his eating because i found that he is not eating that much in this past week.

 

[Thyla]

Yes temperature will affect whether your gecko will eat properly. If it's hungry, he'll eat some crickets or roaches but if the temperature is too low, he will not be able to digest them, and likely regurgitate them up.
All my geckos reduce feeding during the winter period but they do not stop altogether.

I highly recommend getting a heat mat so it can properly digest his food.

 

[Tevalo]

ok thanks

 

[Tevalo]

do you use a thermostat because i dont have enough money for a stat

 

[Tevalo]

would a 14 wat 28cmX28cm heat mat be ok partly under a 30x30 tank without a stat without overheating?

 

[LaDeDah]

would a 14 wat 28cmX28cm heat mat be ok partly under a 30x30 tank without a stat without overheating?

Don't know anything about geckos, but you can't have the heat mat covering more than half the cage otherwise their won't be a thermal gradient.

 

[Thyla]

That's correct. I would be aiming for a heat mat to cover 1/3rd of your ground space in the tank. This gives the gecko the option to move onto it and warm up, or stay on the cool end.
You need some form of thermostat to go with the heat mat. If money is an issue, you can always buy the heat mats with a built in thermostat. I haven't used them, but it would be better than one without a separate thermostat. They are quite cheap on ebay.

 

[saintanger]

heat mat should not be bigger than 50% of the enclosure. also i use thermostats for everything. try getting a cheaper thermostat or look for a working secound hand one and use a separet thermometer to make sure temp is right.

 

[Tobe404]

would a 14 wat 28cmX28cm heat mat be ok partly under a 30x30 tank without a stat without overheating?

I'd use a 5 watt heat mat if I were you.
If you really can't 'afford' a thermostat. They're only like 20 bucks.
Depending how much substrate you use.
I've seen a 7 watt heat mat get up to 37c.