Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone ever use UTH with cresteds? I normally don't keep a heat source on mine, but have been forced by circumstance to overwinter them in the basement, where it is between 55-60 degrees. I have some small guys in small tanks, and am afraid heat lamps would raise the ambient temperature too much. The warm spots on the tanks seems about right, but I'm not even sure if they utilize them.

Just looking for any experience or thoughts.
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1.1 Ghost corns, 1.1 Butter het. stripe corns, 0.1 normal corn
1.1 Tremper Albino Leopard Geckos
1.0 Super dalmation crested, 1.1 Pinstripe crested, 2.1.1 Misc crested
1.0 Ghost Bull, 0.1 Snow bull

how small are the tanks? a low wattage (25-40W) red/black bulb should do the trick. you want them to be 63-65F at night and 72-74F during the day for the winter. i don't use UTH's for cresteds.
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4.1 snakes, 5.3.2 crested geckos, 0.1 gargoyle gecko, 2.0 devon rex cats, 1.0 betta

Also keep in mind that it has been agreed upon that geckos can see red and other "night vision" lights, it simply bothers them less, similar to a human in a red photo room. Ceramic bulbs only emit radiation, but I doubt you'll fine one to meet your needs as they tend to be high output.

I have an adjustable UTH for my crested for times when we have heat problems. She doesn't tend to use it for belly heat, like say a leo would, but it brings up the ambient temperature of one end of her enclosure and one of her hides, therefor maintaining a temperature gradient, albeit one with a much colder cold side.

Actually, if you think about it, the top of a tree at night is going to be much more cold than the leaf litter and hiding places in the tree. Going down or in to find warmth is completely normal. Radiation, convection and all that come into play.

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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

from another forum:

"(from www.botany.unp.ac.za/notes/char.htm)
Lizards have keen vision for daylight (retinas rich in both cones and rods); although one group, the nocturnal geckos, has pure rod retinas for night vision.

Notice the colour spectrum for rod retina/vision...

(image from, and more reading at www.diycalculator.com/sp-cvision.shtml)"

notice that red light is outside of their visible spectrum, as are some blue wavelengths (hence daylight blue and nighttime blue bulbs). moonglow bulbs which produce a purplish light are also not seen.
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4.1 snakes, 5.3.2 crested geckos, 0.1 gargoyle gecko, 2.0 devon rex cats, 1.0 betta

That is certainly a good bit of information there, but allow me to respectfully submit that I know there is on going research into the rods and cones of the human eye at our University which is finding that it may not be as cut and dry as it once was thought. Now, whether or not this would pertain to geckos I have no idea if anyone is doing work in that area.

I guess what I remember is a post from the Leopard gecko board wherein a keeper reported that the the gecko's irises responded to the colored night time bulbs. And interesting question as to what then they where reacting to? Light, radiation, something else? I know it caused them enough worry to pull the light.

It would also be interesting to get a hold of the actual spectrum the night colored lights put out. No incandescent bulb can be only one color wavelength, since it must be the glass that is colored. (Scientists use elemental lights such as sodium and neon for pure color.) But then, I'm a science nut and find that sort of discussion interesting.

Obviously, there are here people who use either of the methods and they must both work on some level. Since I play a heat transfer engineer in life (BME, MSME), I tend toward thinking in terms of radiation and would find it very odd if the "moon" (seen or unseen) was the source of warmth. That's why I defended UTH if for no other reason.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

I keep a UTH on mine for the winter. It's set up on a dimmer switch so that I can adjust how warm it gets. It gets a bit cool in my apartment sometimes in winter, and that was the easiest solution for me. I have seen my crested lay down on it on some of the cooler days, so yes, they will make use of them, but it's important to remember that they're lower temperature lizards than a leopard gecko, for example, so you can't just plug in a UTH and go. You need a dimmer switch or something similar in order to lower the heat output to a range where it'll be right for your crested.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

also keep in mind that cresteds may be more comfortable seeking the warmth near the top of the cage due to their arboreal nature, and being forced to stay on the bottom may be uncomfortable for some geckos. either way, be sure to have plenty of hides/foliage throughout the height of your cage.
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4.1 snakes, 5.3.2 crested geckos, 0.1 gargoyle gecko, 2.0 devon rex cats, 1.0 betta