humidity for my leopard gecko and temp.

Question
we have a juvenile leopard gecko in a 10 gallon fish tank with a hood (came with the tank) with a reptile glow 2.0 uvb bulb.  We have half a log, a shallow water dish, a rock hide house over the under tank heating pad, and we are using bark.  What should the humidity be at?  We have a high range reptile thermometer and it reads 50.  We think she is ready to shed for she is a dull color now compared to her bright vibrant color before.  We are spaying the bark a couple times a day.  Is that o.k.?  What is the best way to keep it at the right humidity?  Our thermometer is reading 80 on the heated side of the tank.  Also we are feeding live crickets.  What is the best time of day to feed her and how many crickets should we give her?

Thank You so much
Sylvie

Answer
Hello Sylvie,

The tank sounds setup pretty well.  
The undertank heating pad is where it is supposed to be right below the rock hide house/cave.  The substrate though in the cave should be spaghmum moss because it holds moisture much better than the bark does.  
Really, you should have a solid substrate in the tank instead of a loose one, such as carpet, felt, non adhesive shelf liner, or tiles.  They can ingest loose pieces of the substrate which can cause impaction too.  
The humidity doesn't have to be terribly high in the entire tank, just around 50-60% in the cave to help with shed.  
The stick on thermometer is probably not real accurate as it only measures the ambient temps & the temps of the glass.  
He will need a basking spot of around 88-90.  Just get a clamp light fixture & a low wattage lightbulb to put on the hot end.  The cool end should be around 78-82.  
You can get either a digital probe or a temp gun, which will help measure the basking spot more accurately.
They tend to like to eat at or after dusk, when it is dark.  They like to hunt at night.  
While she is still growing, you can feed her crickets daily.  I would say let her have at least 5-10 appropriately sized crickets but if she still seems hungry you can give her more.  She will slow down once she is full grown.  

Good luck,
Tracie