Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[minno]

hi I'm new to this and would like to know whats best to heat a crested gecko?? I'm getting a sub adult with a Exo Terra Glass Terrarium that is 45x45x60cm and just would like to know how best to heat and get the humidity right?
live in Nottingham so temperature kinda fluctuates. going to get a thermometer for my room and get average temperatures for my room but i doubt its going to be anywhere near the required. what does everybody else use?

[Exalted Gecko]

Forget about your room temps if your getting a stat, it'll do the work for you.

I use a reflector lamp with a 15watt bulb (not a 'reptile bulb' a much cheaper household one that does the same job for £3 less) which sits on the top corner of the mesh of my exo-terra viv. This is attached to a habistat dimming stat, which you can get from ebay for around £40. Expensive i know but reliable and long lasting.

As I mentioned in the other post I use a digital thermometer, mines actually a point and shoot infra red one so I can get accurate spot checks on all my vivs.

I also mentioned about humidity in your other post, just mist moderately well at night every day, make sure you leave some water droplets on leaves etc for your crestie do drink from.

Bare in mind they live in a sub-tropical environment, not a really humid tropical one.
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Kind Regards,

Chris

[minno]

with that dimmer thermostat is it the 1 that u can program day temp and night temp into? if not its not hard 2 turn it up or down lol dont mind spending a lil extra on that 1, saw a normal habistat thermostat for cheap this is the one i saw:
http://www.everythingforpets.com/habistat_temperature_thermostat.pet/use.id.5.item_id.7284.dept.1485/

would it be better to pay the extra to get the dimming one?

as for source id need a ceramic bulb cause i dont want the light on in the night but dont mind the heat (tanks going in my bedroom)

[Exalted Gecko]

I would go for the dimming stat, it lowers the intensity of the light as needed to lower the temps rather than just switching them off and on which can create quite a variance in temps. It will likely be more expensive yes because its more precise.

You dont need the light on at night, the sun doesnt stay on all night so a night time temp drop is not acceptable but natural. A ceramic heater would be totally overkill for such a small viv at those relatively low temps.

I would go with the 15watt pygmy bulb and move up to a 25watt if needed.
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Kind Regards,

Chris

[minno]

so you would reccomend getting the pigmy light putting it reasonably high then turning it off after 12 hours and let the temperature drop naturally?

[Goose]

to be honest, it would be a lot cheaper and probably less likely to overheat the crestie if you bought a small heatmat and a mat stat to provide a small heated area rather than heating the whole tank with a bulb. Cresties do fine at normal room temp here in yorkshire but i use a heat mat to give them the option of thermoregulation.
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Tom



peace, love and captive breeding

[minno]

the room temperature today was 16C sooo thats what 60F roughly... so id need to heat up 10F the heat mat sounds like a good idea that way they have the total choice. would it be better to mount it so its hottest on the floor gradually going up or side ways so it goes across the side of the tank?

[Jackie]

The only snag with heat mats is they are designed to heat surface temperature and not air (temp). I think what Chris has recommended is the better option for Cresteds. If the heat source is connected to a stat then the risk of over heating is minimal. If you provide plenty of branches and leaves in the viv then the Crested still has the option to move to a cooler place. Another thing to consider is that heat mats run the risk of potentially damaging the lamellae on the feet of the gecko.
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Best wishes, Jackie

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