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question about high humidity/regurgitaion for a leo

This is what our member has to say: I am use to having high humidity for tropicals...but now I have a leo and his humidity is too high! My guage is about ...


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question about high humidity/regurgitaion for a leo

question about high humidity/regurgitaion for a leo



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  #1  
10-05-2006, 07:36 PM
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question about high humidity/regurgitaion for a leo

I am use to having high humidity for tropicals...but now I have a leo and his humidity is too high! My guage is about 10% high anyways when I calibrated it. So my humidty is around 40-50% and I know it should be BELOW 10%

I have a 10 gallon here is a pic



I have a temp strip for the warm side and cool side and in the middle is a guage which reads temp and humidity...I am getting floor temps soon...anyways how or what should I do? I think it may be high from the moist hide and water dish, but I don't know? I am working on getting a bigger 20L at least so hopefully that will help...but what do I do until I find one?

Also, most importantly this morning my leo had (I am assuming was) reguratated mealworms! no pics sorry I didn't think about it...it was about 6-8 whole worms in groups of about 3-4 clumped togeter...my leo seem ok..I didn't feed him that morning, but he ate 2 meal worms and two crickets tonight..he wanted more, but I was afraid to feed him if something was wrong or causing him or throw up?

let me start from yesterday...I may have over fed him yesterday he usually eats 4-6 mealworms (he is new only 1 week for me) he ate 11 mealworms and 2 crickets the night before! I hope I didn't overfeed him I thought he would stop when full, but I don't know. Also, he is getting ashy and dull, probably going to shed could this be a cause?

Thanks and help =) I am worried, but he is active and looks good.

  #2  
10-05-2006, 07:52 PM
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You should get digital thermometers, what are your temps? If they are not high enough they will cause a regurg. It could also be stress, are you handeling him alot?

  #3  
10-06-2006, 01:43 PM
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The temps on the basking side is 84 with a Under Tank Heater, cool side around 78. The night temps are around 74ish. It changes since it is the time of year~cold warm ya know...it will be easier when the heat is turned on, but I have been keeping a close eyeon the temps. I have acouple lights to work with when the temps change in the house. The one in the middle is a digital it has a min/max recall also...so the highest temps are in the 84's and lowest seem to be in the 70's. I sometimes don't use a night (moonglo 25 watt) cause acouple nights were warm and he has a Under Tank Heater. It has been VERY difficult keeping the temps where they should be...one minute I have to get it up alittle and then by mid day it is alomost too hot, which is why I got acouple lights to have a quick change when the outside (house) temps change.

I don't really handle him much. Ionly held him like twice since I had him. I let him destress for the first tow days with only food interactions...then I held him to clean out the cage twice so far....He daesn't seem to afraid..he eats out of my hand and doesn't hide too much? He comes up to me (occasionally) when I lay my hand on his cage floor =) I am trying to get him to WANT to come to me.

  #4  
10-06-2006, 02:43 PM
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Paige, both issues are unrelated so one issue at a time.

About humidity. The "bellow 10%" that appears on the caresheet here is wrong. I said it so a few times several months ago but it hasn't been corrected yet.
It should be a little lower than what you have now and that is easily attainable if you increase the ventilation.

About the regurgitation. Most frequent reasons are eating too much, not being able to digest the food, being very very stressed or being sick. From what you wrote I believe it's reason #2: not being able to digest. You should pump up the daytime temps a little bit.

I don't restrict my leo's food intake unless they are eating way too much. This sounds much better if I explain it like this: lets say they eat 10 mealworms every day. if one day they reach 20 and they show no signs of being full, I don't feed them more.

Apart from this, seems to me you are not using a thermostat, right?
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  #5  
10-06-2006, 03:38 PM
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Make sure you read one then one care sheet. All of them clash...it should never be below 10 (they can have shedding problems at that point) I've heard between 10-35 but 40 isn't to bad at all.

Never trust temps from a temp strip...It measures the temperature of the glass and not of the air next to the ground. I was using one when I first got Skittles and it was 35 degrees off!!! A digital with probes are best and you can set it on the warm and cool spots and get readings from both. I usually keep the temps between 88-92 on the warm side and (77-82). Plus I have a beach rock that conducts heat which he can get on if he gets to cold (NOT a heat rock). During the night the coolest side drops to low 70's and the cool low 80's. I've heard 60's is to low a temp. If you can't find a thermostat anywhere what I've done is put my heat lamp on a lamp dimmer so instead of just turning one off I can adjust it. There are guides to making thermostats online if you would like though. If anyone finds any of that info wrong let me know!

  #6  
10-07-2006, 03:00 PM
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My day temps are now 87 warm side, 78 cool side. Does that work? he hasn't regurgitated anymore...I guess I will feed as much as he will eat again, but no more then 20, right rbl? He stopped at 11 the night before he regurgitated, so I thought he ate too much.

Do you have a Under Tank Heater for Skittles?

I'll look into thermastats and probs, any place you all reccomend?

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10-07-2006, 03:15 PM
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No, you missed the point. You need to know your leo's eating habits. Let me rephrase my example using outrageous numbers and maybe it will become cleareer: lets say they eat 10 billion mealworms every day. if one day they reach 20 billion and they show no signs of being full, I don't feed them more.

Ricardo =)
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  #8  
10-07-2006, 05:42 PM
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OOOKKKAAAYYYY~ I understand
so in REAL numbers what do you feed PERSONALLY so I have an IDEA of what a baby leo SHOULD be eatting normally

cause he is going to shed and I am NEW OWNER for less then a WEEK and I want to make sure to feed enough without over feeding. I have been giving around 4-8 small mealworms a day. this morning he ate 3 and last nigt 4> so you have an idea.

I just ordered MORE temp gauges so I have a better reading (not the strips! . I don't think he was sick from the temps being too low. I should have them soon. What if I put the stips I have on the bottom where the heating pad is (would that work like a probe?) at least until I can get one.

  #9  
10-08-2006, 01:15 PM
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You can't rule a number and make it a standard. When you say baby, he can be 2 weeks or 2 months of age and the difference is huge in terms of development and eating habits.

If you want to be safe, I would recommend you switching to crickets as staple and not mealworms. Easier to digest, less prone for blockages and all that nasty stuff. I would also recommend that you feed him at least 2 times a day to avoid that anxiety that leads to overfeeding. An animal that "knows" that there's plenty of food, don't overeat on every chance.
Make that second meal a snack in the middle of the afternoon and feed him the real meal in the evening. 3 or 5 small crickets is a nice snack.
My Leopard Geckos have a dish of mealworms permanently on their enclosures so that they can snack whenever they want and eventually you will get to that stage too where they eat when they want.

As for temp gauges, (if you are talking about these) I would also recommend that you save your money and buy one of those digital thermometers with probe.
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  #10  
10-08-2006, 09:05 PM
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that is alittle more helpful =) I have been feeding twice a day and I don't know the age, but the size is about 3 inches he seems to have grown some. He is definatley going to shed soon.

I think those are the guages or close. It may be too late to stop the order, but I can get a probe. I have a question about probes: do I just use it occasionally on the surface to check the temp or does it stay in there? I haven't seen a probe or used one.

 


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