Leopard gecko questions.

Acquired 2 baby Leo's. Don't wanna do a heat rock. And there nocturanal so heat lamp wouldn't make sense as a main source of heating. I'm thinking about going with a heating pad that goes on the outside lf the cage. And trAnsfers heat. Are these reliable? I'm thinking of the zoo med one do they have a settings button to adjust the heat? And if you use one of these can you still use paper towel as a bedding until there old enough for sand? Thanks

They do work well and you can use paper towels with them. They don't have a settings button, so you would need to buy a thermostat as well to control the temperature. I wouldn't recommend using a heat mat without a thermostat. I use zoomed and flukers heat mats and both have been very reliable for me.

Thanks. Suggestions on the thermostat?

I use a zilla 1000watt and a zilla 500watt with the heat mats. These are on the cheaper end of the thermostat spectrum. I use a VE-100 for my snake rack which is about twice the price of the other ones. I don't personally use heat mats for my geckos, I use them for snakes. I use an overhead lamp with a night bulb for my geckos and have it on for 12 hours a day and off all night and it works well for me.

It doesn't get too cold at night or is that what the night bulb is for?

Because I deffiantly don't want to fry them like my anoles when I was young. Thy got burnt to a crisp on a heat rock/:

I use a night bulb during the day and nothing at night and they have been fine. If your house is cold at night, it might not be best to do it this way.

Word thanks man

careful with sand because they are going to eat it. I like outdoor carpet instead of substrate