leopard gecko -temper albino blazzing blizzard

Question
QUESTION: Hi'Diane this is Roger I have a question of a concern that is brothering me.I have just bought a leopard gecko from a breeder in sept.12 2007 born in july 2006 he weights 83 grams. when i bought him for $300 from geckosetc.com and my concern is that I have a uth heating pad on by zoomed plug to a themostat 500R zoomed and the inclosure inside the 40 gallon breeer tank {36Lx18Wx16H}I also decided to have cermic tiles for the suface bottom of the tank inside.but the uth heating pad from the surace of the tiles on the warmside does not reach thr temp. 90.f required for him>The tem gun reads to me around 74.f -82.f ...it does not conduct too much heat cause of the tiles on the surface.this is what I did frist of all I plug the light dome lamp with a infred light of a 75.watt bulb to the other thermostat for the uth heting pad only for th 24/7 around the clock heat for him for a couple of hours till it reach 90.f the inclosure inside the thermostst gauge read the I adjust the thermostat for the uth heat pad for the 90.f that it should be ios what the breeder keeps telling me it should be. But my concern is that because of the tiles on the warmside it does not reach that temp.of 90,f that it should be the temp gun reads only about 74-82 then when I leave on the light for him on the warmside the thermostat on the uth heater pad turns off at 82.f -83.f.Sometimes when the room temp is about 85.f it turns off also the uth heater to the thermostat.What should I do?

ANSWER: Hi Roger,
Did you use playsand under the tiles...about 1/4 inch deep...this helps distribute the heat more evenly.  Is the UTH covering about 1/3 the tank?  If you aren't using the proper sized UTH, you won't get the heat you want.
You can't use a bulb that produces light on a thermostat.  Doesn't matter if its a red light, nocturnal light or white light.  Thermostats are for UTH, heating pads and ceramic heat emitters.
I would get a good digital thermometer with the probe on the end of a wire...lay it on the surface of the tile and see what you get as a temperature.   There is no way that if the room temperature is 85, your  tile will be lower than that unless you have some sort of cool are blowing under the tank.
I would go with a ceramic heat emitter overhead on a thermostat which will maintain the "basking" temperatures. Be sure to provide some type of light during the day also, be it from room lighting, or other light such as a fluorescent tube.
You can use two timers...one  for day and one to come on in the evening for the CHE...
If your temperature gun is reading correct, then I would guess you have a faulty thermostat.
Silly question here....  when you point your temperature gun to measure the temperature, are you pointing it at a solid object or "air"?  
Remember, only your basking area needs to be in the 90 degree area....not the entire cage.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Diane this is Roger I don't use playsand under the tiles cause the tiles will be lopsided upward.and not flat on the ground surface.and as for the uth,i did buy it for the 40 gallon breeder size tank cause the zoomed uth heating pad do have different size.but yes I do have for the 40 gallon size tank I bought it 1-1/2 ago.and as for tht red infred light nocturnal on the repti -temp 500R sensor with probe I use it for the day lamp so it can turn off & on at 85.f during the day 24/7 or else how will I  adjust the light temp. in the day without over heating the tank too much.and yes I do have  one timer that is for 24/7 day and night.and about the temp gun to measure the temp on the surface of the tiles where the uth is at on the warmside of the tank i point it on top of the two tiles only where the uth is at only to get the surface temp of 90.f which it does not read only about 79-82.f.how back to the d ay light dome lamp that is plug into the 500R repti temp thermostat the store where they sold it too me to me that I can use it for the lamp dome for the daylight,Redlight cause these lights will not disturb his eyes cause I keep on reading  that the blazzing blzzard albino have senitive eyes and the breeder told me not to use any bright lights nor any lamp light for him i think that is something very strange to me why he is tell me that I can't when on his website it says the redlight lamp for nocturnal can be use I do not no wwhat to believe him or not It's not that I do not understand it is that he confusses me on that subject on the lighting part when even he has it on his website that we can.

ANSWER: When you place the thin layer of sand under the tiles in the entire tank, you level off the sand...when done correctly it provides a very even and stable surface.
You cannot use a thermostat to control any light fixture...you can only use a rheostat(dimmer) on light producing bulbs. ******** Bulbs are not made to be able to withstand the off and on that a thermostat would cause. To do so can cause them to burst, which would put glass everywhere.************
If you use a ceramic heat emitter on the thermostat, that will maintain the proper temperatures.
Yes..albinos eyes are more sensitive...but there are types of lights(soft white, some fluorescent tubes made for aquariums and many low wattage bulbs) for daytime light.They do not live their lives in total darkness, or even only in moonlight. UTH heaters do not heat the tank, or even the air above it but for a degree or two.  UTH are for bottom heat only.
Think of it this way.... during the say..the sun warms from above...it warms rocks, etc where the leos hide out in the rocks... the air is also warmed by the sun...the rocks absorb the heat from the sun during the day and stay warm for a good part of the night.
Are you providing a space of about 1/4 inch between the tank and the area it sits on?  With UTH you need to have that space to prevent over heating of the UTH.
You may have to play with different wattages of bulbs to be able to get the proper temperatures for day and night.
Only a CHE or UTH can be used on a thermostat....which when using the CHE(ceramic heat emitter) you can go with a higher wattage due to being able to use the thermostat.
With a Rheostat(dimmer) you can use it also on a CHE, and the thermostat at the same time... BUT...you cannot use both on a bulb...only a rheostat can be used there.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Good Morining Diane This is Roger...ok about the frist question about the playsand under the tiles to produce even heat for him I do have not bought any cause to me I have to take out the tank when I do clean the intire inclosure just to remove the playsand it is more work for me.Is ther some other way I can do to say adjust the thermostat the is to the uth only little higher on the knob and then check it out  on the temp gun to see if the temp is going up some till I get it to 85.f-90.f If that will help I don't now...by the way as for the light lamp bulb on the lamp with the thermostat I just removed one of them for the coolside of the tank as you said it will not support the bulb by it turning off & on so I did just what you said and this morining and turn on the infred red light to adjust the the dimmable switch when it reach the temp of 75.f on the coolside for the nighttime only.and the temp of 75.f stays right on the temp acuratly when I dimm the the lamp switch down for the temp and it doesn't give too much heat for the night time and not too bright for him to walk around at night.it's coolI guess cause during the day the thermostat on the coolside does reach about 80.f when the daytime infred red light is on and the temp reaces about 85.f I will take off the other thermostat on the warmside  and just adjust it to 85.f daytime temp {air] from the dimmable switch on that lamp dome also today...but I just want to say one thing I was misinfromed or maybe I mios read the book on leopard geckos setups on the heating and lighting subject it was jus the waste of money for them other too thermostats I bought for them two lamp domes for day & night and all the time they are only good for the uth only.but you no what during the time when i did have it lkie that with the two thermostat controlling it off & on during the acurate temp that was properly set the bulb did not burst all that time of 14 hours a dy 24 hours a week during day and night times.uhu thanks for this infomation.I do have one more question before I say goobye.now about the watts on the bulb for the daytime temp.and nighttime temp.I do have a 75.watt red infred light on the coolside but on the warmside I do have other bulb the same but it is only 60.watts now my question here i have this book the herpculture of leopard geckos and it say the on the light for the heating of the temp {air} inside the inclosure only I can either have a 30 to 40 watt bulb just too observe him but not very much heat temp. or I can either use a highter watt bulb to do both.what do you think since I have one 75.watt bulb already on the coolside for the nightime do you think I should buy a 75.watt for the warmside too or go with the two 50.watt bulbs to give the proper heat and nott too hot i do understand that.but Like I said to you Iin the begining I do have 40 bredder tank.36Lx18Wx16H what proper watt buls do you think i need for this tank I do understand about the diffrent size of tanks for diffrent watts bulb to give heat temp.only not the basking part wher he sit on the uth heat pad will be that.

Answer
With the playsand/tile setup there is no reason to tear it all out to clean the tank.  Since your leo most likely uses one spot as the "bathroom" placing paper towels in that area works.  
Basically.... the wattage needed is what ever wattage will maintain the proper temperatures. Remember, you are basically looking for 3 different temperature zones in the leos tank. Cool, ambient and basking.
The cool side of your tank should not go below what ever the room temperature is.  If the room temperature is 75..then the area of the tank with no additional heat will be at 75 degrees, maybe a few degrees higher due to the enclosed area.
The thermostats also work on ceramic heat emitters and heating pads.  Are you familiar with what a ceramic heat emitter is?