Leo behaviour in winter

[heady idol]

So before my leo would always move around and go into the humid hide and all but lately she stays in the cold side even at night and doesn’t move from there at all. I’m worried she’ll get impacted because she legit NEVER goes to the hot side of the enclosure. I haven’t ever seen her go there once so it’s worrying me a little and I don’t really handle her because I don’t see a reason to since it’ll only stress her

[solar grove]

NQA But that’s normal during the winter. They know how to thermoregulate themselves! If she was too cold she’d head over to the hot side. Especially during the winter their behavior can slow down.

Iliana hasn’t moved from her hot side hide either so you’re not alone there.

[heady idol]

I hope so, it gets down to like 20 degrees Celsius at night but she still doesn’t move to the hot side

I gave her the biggest hornworm two days ago so now I’m making sure it actually comes out of her

It took her 2 minutes to chug it down I shouldn’t have gave such a big one lol

[solar grove]

Oh that’s okay, I don’t use celsius but that’s about 68° Fahrenheit which is still okay. If it drops below 16° Celsius then I’d get worried but 20° is still okay. NQA

[solar grove]

She’s probably okay! Leo’s have one braincell but if she got it down then she’s probably okay. We have an emote I think of someone’s gecko eating a really big hornworm and they were fine

^

[heady idol]

Lmaooo

I’ll keep an eye out on her I guess I’m more paranoid cause I never really do body checks on her but I’ve also never had to for the last 6 years

She’s always been perfect, no stuck shed, no issues eating or getting skinny

[solemn current]

in winter some leopard geckos prefer the cold side it can happen due to seasonal changes and so on

to your question no your gecko should not get an impaction at all it‘s all just natural behavior.

if you have correct temperatures you should be fine don‘t worry much keep an eye on her

does she eat regulary as usual and how old is she ? for how long do you have her ?

impaction isn‘t caused by your gecko picking on it‘s own to chill somewhere cold. it is mostly caused bc of inproper husbandary such as temperatures, unsafe substrate etc.
if they need warmth they will use it if not then they wont.

where is your humid hide placed in the enclosure ? it should be somewhere near the hot side not in.

humid and cold doesn‘t go well if it‘s placed correctly you don‘t have to worry much.

if she strikes on food you should keep an eye on her weight if she does loose weight rapidly you should take her to the vet

but as i read she ate so you don‘t have to worry i think !

also if your temperatures at night don‘t drop constantly or often below 18C you are fine :)

[heady idol]

Lately the hot side struggled to get to 30c because of how cold it is but it’s always at around 29-30.5 degrees. I mist frequently because of how dry it is here (I’m in Canada) so the hot side can dip down to like 27% humidity (I always try to keep it above 30%) but misting causes the temp to dip a bit hence why it’s in the 28-30 range.

My humid hide is in the middle and my setup is pretty solid, let me find you a picture

She’s 6 years old right now roughly and she eats pretty regularly, however lately because of the dip in temperature she’s been eating less frequently

Usually when she doesn’t eat I skip the week to let her settle in and then she will eat the following week

She doesn’t go longer than 2 weeks without some kind of food usually she’s always looking to eat by that time

But I offer every week

[solemn current]

alrght i understand i can maybe help a bit :)

so for your temps 30C is fine for air temperatures if your basking temp is around 34-37C

if you need more heat you can put aluminium foil on your mesh top but leave gaps for your uvb heat sources and light do not cover them

for higher humidity i would recommend that you avoid misting the whole enclosure it‘s not good and not that much affective.

what you can do instead is poke holes in your substrate and hydrate the whole substrate and mix it well

spraying only on top of the substrate will dry quickly but hydrating the whole substrate will keep it moist and your humidity should go up :)

the ideal humidity is between 30-55% a few % above or under shouldn‘t be that bad like 29% for example

but constantly having 70% ,20%, 15% and so on could cause health issues

hope that helps a bit :)

[heady idol]

Yes that helps thanks! Tbh my cold side always stays at around 40-50% and my hot side will average between 27-35%

I would rehydrate the soil but it doesn’t last long maybe a couple of days?

I would dig small holes, water and then cover up and add water in the corners of the terrarium

It’s hard to mix when I have a bunch of stuff in the way and I don’t wanna stress my Leo but constantly moving stuff around

[solemn current]

you can buy a humidifier i think they are called and place it in your room where your geckos enclosure is :)

i heared people are using them and that they help with maintaining a bit higher humidity

[solemn current]

i totally understand that

[solemn current]

the aluminium foil will also help holding humidity i forgot to mention that

since ventilation is causing the humidity to escape

you could also move the water dish more towards the warm side

[heady idol]

Noted. I’ll try all these things🤝🏽 thank you for your help!

[solemn current]

hope so if you want to you can update here after you tested everything out :)