Light is vital for most animals, including leopard geckos. It helps them distinguish day and night and different weather seasons. Given that leopard geckos hunt at dawn and dusk, light is vital as it helps them know it is time to hunt.
Some artificial lights also produce heat, thus helping the lizard to thermoregulate. Therefore, light is vital for leopard geckos. Even so, which kind of light do leopard geckos need? Are all lights suitable for leopard geckos? How long do leopard geckos need the lights in captivity?
Below we discuss and answer all your questions about leopard geckos’ lighting needs.
What Kind Of Lights Do Leopard Geckos Need?
Leopard geckos need a source of heat and visible light during the day. At night, they only need a source of heat. As such, there are different kinds of light you can choose to provide to the lizard. Such include;
Visible Light
Visible light sources are an excellent way of helping your leopard gecko distinguish day at night. However, some also produce heat, making them a secondary source of heat vital in assisting leopard geckos with thermos regulation.
Other visible light bulbs produce UV light, but if you have to buy such, you should only choose one that does not produce too much UV light. In addition, an excellent light-only bulb for a leopard gecko should be between 100 and 150 watts.
Basking Light
Leopard geckos get heat from the air and ground in the wild. As crepuscular animals, leopard geckos do not bask directly under the sun. As such, a good basking light for leopard geckos warms their belly, such as a heat mat.
You can also opt for ceramic bulbs as a source of basking light. They do not produce light and thus make an excellent choice for combining with a light-only bulb.
UV Light
Whether or not leopard geckos need UV light is a significant debate among pet owners. Most believe that the lizard does not require UV light. If you are one of those, you can skip this light. However, if you opt to provide the lizard with UV light, ensure that the amount produced is minimal to imitate what they get in the wild.
Do Leopard Geckos Need Light At Night?
No, these reptiles do not need lights at night.
Most leopard gecko owners think they must provide the reptile with a light source to aid them in their dusk and night activities. Contrary to this, leopard geckos have impressive night vision and can rummage through things and move around without artificial light.
Providing light at night interferes with their nighttime activities, including sleep.
Should I Turn My Leopard Geckos Light Off At Night?
Yes, it is good to turn off leopard gecko lights at night. In the wild, there is no light source at night, and the same should apply to captivity too.
Ensure you turn off the lights completely; your gecko will be fine.
What Time Should I Turn Off My Leopard Geckos Light?
When setting up your leopard gecko’s enclosure, you should try to imitate the factors in the wild. It will help you, among other things, know when to switch off the lights. This means that during summer, you will leave the lights on for longer than during winter.
You can decide what time to turn on and off the lights as long as you remain consistent. In summer, provide daylight for 14 hours and not more than 12 hours in winter. For instance, if you decide to switch on the lights at 8 am in summer, you should switch them off at 10 pm and leave them off till 8 am the next day.
The time to switch on the lights doesn’t have to be the real-time dawn as long as you remain consistent with daylight hours. An automatic on/off timer can help you stay consistent, lest you forget.
Should I Turn Off Leopard Geckos Heat Mat At Night?
No, you should not turn off your leopard gecko’s heat mat or any other primary heat source at night. These lizards’ hunting activities go on into the nighttime, and they need a heat source to remain active and survive since they do not produce their own heat.
Heat also helps leopard geckos digest what they feed during this time. Else, they would suffer from indigestion and other related health problems. So these heat mats are a good way of providing the lizard with warmth.
In addition, the mats imitate the wild environment where the leopard geckos get underbelly heating from the ground surfaces that absorb daytime heat.
Do Leopard Geckos Need A Basking Light?
Yes, these lizards with fat tails need basking warmth. Even so, they do not bask under a light like other reptiles such as turtles. Because leopard geckos are not good at basking, ensure that you place the basking light on one corner of the enclosure and leave a cooler side for the lizard to retreat to.
Basking lights should remain on even at night, other than when there is another heat source in the enclosure.
Are Red Lights Bad For Leopard Geckos?
Red lights enhance visibility at night and provide a source of heat. However, leopard geckos do not need nighttime lights and can navigate in the dark.
Red lights interfere with the lizard’s sleep pattern, making it challenging for them to distinguish day and night. In addition, young leopard geckos are sensitive to light. If you still need to use red lights with your leopard gecko at night, ensure that you do not leave them on for more than 2 hours.
Do Leopard Geckos Need UV Light?
The common belief is that they do not need UV light. Even so, experts recommend that the light is beneficial to leopard geckos.
One of the reasons most people do not provide leopard geckos with UV light is the assumption that these lizards are nocturnal. But this is a great misconception; the truth is that leopard geckos are crepuscular, meaning they hunt during dawn and dusk. In the wild, they get exposed to some level of UV light when the sun is setting or rising.
UV light can help alleviate some problems, such as metabolic bone disease, although the illness is not common among leopard geckos.
When you provide UV light, switch it off at night, irrespective of whether it is in summer or winter. On the other hand, if you do not provide UV light, provide sufficient calcium and Vitamin D.
Conclusion
Visible and basking lights are some of the mandatory lights for leopard geckos. They help you provide an environment similar to what the lizard gets in the wild.
Ensure you leave heat sources on at night but switch off visible light. In addition, visible light should remain on for a duration similar to that in the wild, according to the current season.