I just set up my leopard gecko's new cage?
Switched from a 10 gall to a 15. Since I had him, I've kept a red heat lamp of 75 watts above his cage, but now I bought a Zoo Med heat pad instead. It's quite small compared to size of the cage, so it is settled in the middle of the glass on the far left side of the cage. It's been about 20-30 minutes, and I cant feel the any heat on the reptile carpet, so just to make sure just in case the heat pad isn't working, I put the heat lamp back on the cage. Both the pad and heat lamp are on, and I was wondering if it is okay to leave it on for the night? Or will it get too hot?
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oh my goodness, 75 watts? That's a lot for a leopard gecko in a 15 gallon tank. I used a 75 watt for my bearded dragon in a 70 gallon tank! lol my leopard gecko is in a 20 gallon long and I only had a 25 watt infrared heat light above the one side, as well as a medium heat pad there. Then I actually noticed that was too hot and switched it to a 15 watt regular incandescent house bulb. The temperature needs to be like low 80's on the hot side and low 70's on the cool side (I can't remember exactly, once I got my temperatures set right i don't check it a lot anymore). They also need a day/night cycle and they can't see red light, so if he's somewhere not too bright you should think about that. One more thing, something else you can use instead of reptile carpet is slate tile. It heats up nice, no risk of impaction, and it's really easy to clean and you won't need to replace it unless you drop it. Just get a thermometer, the circle ones aren't accurate and the ones with a probe are better but not great, the best you can get is one with a laser. I suggest getting a medium heat pad, and you can use that alone or with a small wattage light for day/night cycle, a little extra heat, "showcase" lighting... I'm sorry if this is a little confusing but I'm just trying to help out... I would leave the heat pad on tonight but turn off the light, then tomorrow work on it. Good luck
I would suggest getting a lower wattage for the lamp, fist off. Second off, what size cage did the heat pad's package say it was for? Most heat pads have a suggested tank size on the package.
Try giving it a bit more time, though. The heat pads usually take a while to get up to heat.
If its like a 5 gallon heat pad you should put the heat pad under the repti carpet instead of the tank to get the heat through a glass tank because they are designed traditionally for plastic.
If you need anymore help feel free to join http://www.leopardgeckoz.com/
I don't like under tank heaters for leo geckos. I always use an over the tank heater(not lights, though, no need with these guys) You can move an overhead heater further away from the tank to make it cooler. Can't do that with an undertank heater! Of course, you could turn down YOUR ac until your tank is the right temp, which is what my son does!