erm..i did say a temperature.
according to the caresheet that Manhirwen posted, they need 78-85F.
thiers a heat lamp at one end of the tank.
thiers a thermomiter in the middle of the tank saying the temp is 80F

so, obviously the end with the heat lamp will be warmer then the 80 and the end without it will be cooler and thus allow the gecko to thermo regulate.

looking at that caresheet, everything is set up properly.
heat, food, water, i have no humidity gauge (i'll get one today)
only thing not following the guide is having real soil instead of fake bedding because of the real plants

but anyway, he's going into a new smaller tank today.

Depending on where you got your soil and type, some soils bought have different chemicals and additives that can also be toxic to reptiles.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

eww. geeze. diden't know that.
maybe it just got too toxic for them then.

don't remember what kind of top soil it was, but it was baught in 50lb bags from lowes over the summertime.

My guess is that it was probably the soil and/or the sunlight. Real vivariums are cool and look great, but there is a lot of factors that make them more trouble than they are worth.
My advice is to keep the living areas simple for the time being: use proper substrate recommended for the species you are keeping. Some plants can be toxic to reptiles, even if they don't eat it. So you might be better off with some of the great looking silk plants available. That way you don't have to worry about the plants getting enough water and worrying that the reptiles might be too wet, etc.
The other option is to keep the plants in pots and put them in the terrarium like that. It's easier to remove any sickly-looking plants and you don't have to soak the whole terrarium to water them.
Your goal should be to provide the most optimal living environment for your species of reptile... if you're worried about different species of reptile and different types of plants all in one enclosed space: things are likely to go wrong.
Also: one thermometer isn't enough: there should be at least one on each end of the terrarium and they should each have a humidity gauge. Don't guess! In very high terrariums, you might want one higher up and one lower as well.
It is very possible that the sun shone in on your terrarium and the temps in there went up drastically. It only takes minutes for reptiles to die of temps that are too high. Always protect you animals from factors you can't control. If you don't know what the weather is going to be like that day, keep the shades closed!!

Good luck with your gecko. I think it's a good idea that you are moving him to a different enclosure. Keep it simple for a while and see how he does.

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Andrea

What type of thermometer are you using? Is it one of the stick on tape kind that is similar to what is used on tropical fish tanks? You really need to know what the temps are in either end of the tank.Walmart, Lowes etc have a digital thermometer for about 10 bucks that has a remote probe. you can put the probe in one end and the readout in the other. there is a switch on the readout that will change the reading from the readout's end to that of the probe so you can easily monitor each end. It also has a minimum/maximum readout to let you know the highest and lowest temperature that has occurred since you last checked it. Knowing the EXACT temperatures is crucial for reptiles survival. They have to have the proper temperatures. Guessing doesn't cut it.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

My guess would be that the sunlight hit one side of your tank during the day after you moved it causing the temps to skyrocket, it doesn't take much, sunlight through a window can even cook fish in a fish tank, so imagine no water.

Only other thing might be impaction or parasites and the stress associated with moving the cage caused them to subdue to the problems. You could try and get a necropsy on one and see if it was impaction, you wouldn't be able to tell parasite problems due to not preserving the specimen, but a fecal on your healthy gecko would show if there was anything present in the tank.

I don't think it was plants and would guess that the only reason one animal lived was that it was able to self regulate by finding a little niche of cooler air under a plant or near some substrate.

in order to better her chances for survival, and since I can't provide adaquetly enough for her at this time, i have taken the remaining gecko to a good friend of mine to care for for the next month or two until I get the new viv built and properly set up. although I hate to give her up, i'm too worried she will die before I get it built. my friend has been keeping geckos for several years now and so far has 3 lepord geckos, 2 day geckos and 2 golden geckos of his own and I have alot of trust in him.

thank you all for the help, support, and other info you have givin me.

Sounds like a really smart move. Good luck getting your next viv set up. Take your time with it: I've built, re-built and re-built stuff too many times because I rushed. The costs of re-doing stuff like that can be enormous!!!

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Andrea

That sounds like a good move to me as blackjack said be sure not to rush into gettign your viv built/set up properly..and good luck