Warm End, Cool End: Setting Up Your First Leopard Gecko Vivarium

Your leopard gecko doesn't warm up by breathing warm air. She takes most of her heat through her belly, from warm surfaces — which is why floor temperature matters far more than the number halfway up the glass. 🦎

Aim for a gradient, measured at substrate level: a basking surface around 32–35°C at one end, a cool end at 22–25°C, and a natural night drop to about 18–21°C. Every heat source runs through a thermostat. No exceptions, ever.

Three hides, not one: warm, cool, and a humid hide stuffed with damp moss. That third one is the difference between a clean shed and dead skin stuck round her toes and eyelids.

And bin the stick-on dial thermometer. A digital probe taped to the warm-end floor, plus a cheap infrared gun, will tell you the truth in ten seconds.

Full setup guide below: enclosure size, heating options, UVB, safe substrates and what to do in her first fortnight.