Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've got an interesting Question...

I'm setting up the Temp Zones in a 5 gallon terrarium for a lil crested baby..

So, I picked up a 60W UV/HEAT incadescent black bulb .. When I placed the Lamp onto the screentop I noticed a problem I have to solve..

Gecko's Hang on screen tops.. (oops)

I don't want to burn him so I backed off the clamp light to a distance where I get 80-90 on the screen ..

So my question is this ...

Is this where you guys try to keep the basking spot temp located at .. I ask this because when I do this I get a low 70 and even a 67-69 temp on the bottom of the 5 gal tank..

Thnaks

Tigermist

They don't need any heat. 90 is even way too hot. Unless you live in a very cold place, leave any and all heating devices out of the picture. If you want to use the red light for viewing, that would be fine, but position the light far enough away to only measure maybe in the low 80s tops on the top of the screen, which would imply slightly cooler cage temps. I live in Louisville KY and right now the night drops down to the high 60's in my apartment, so I turn on a blue 40W night lamp which keeps the night temps around 70ish. I leave all heat off in the day time, when the apartment is aroun 78F. If you have not done so already, read all the previous posts and do a google search on Allen Repashy, he has a great care sheet for these guys. Temps of 85 or higher WILL kill these geckos, so be careful.
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-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.0.1 Axolotl Salamander
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

I'm aware of that .. But I can't let him live with a low of upper 60's during a 24 hour period.. can I ??

I've read everywhere that you need to keep a mean temp of 70-75 .. with up to 85 max basking spot... I actually see some lethargy (slowness) in him when it's 67-72 in the tank...

And at night with the lamp on we get a temp of 82 only on the screen top... I don't think that will kill him .. Especially since the temperature down inside the tank is still in the mid 70's...

My inital question was .. "where" to take temp readings in his cage... since there's heat on top of the screen I don't want him to burn his belly.. that's why I backed off the surface temp up top to the 80's..

I've tried other spots in the house but the digital thermometer will always record a low temp of 60 something during a 24 hour period.. The only place there was no low temp was when I placed the tank on top of my URO's tank which has a 120 temp zone on the opposite end of where I placed it.. The temp then went down to 72..

I live in Boston .. (Not Alaska)..

LOL

Thank god spring is coming on Sunday .. But it snowed all week.

Ok I gotcha. I bet Boston does get pretty cold. I've read several times that these guys can tolerate night time drops down to the 50's! Just so long as they can warm back up to 70-80 in the day time. As far as where the best place to measure, I would guess near the top since the heat rises, so that way if you get a higher temp at the top, then he can always escape below to cool down. When you say you measured a surface temp of around 90, do you mean a true surface temp or the ambient temp around the surface. If 90 is the true SURFACE temp, then I would think you would be ok.
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-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.0.1 Axolotl Salamander
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

Thanks.. down to 50 ehh .. Would you think of that as an "overnight" low in New Caledonia ??

I'll be still watchin those low temps though.. I just don't like to see it when the lil guy gets cold and wants to do nothing.. His activity level is great around 75-80..

I don't have a temp gun So when I say a temp reading it's coming from my digital "ambient" thermometer , but the surface temp of the cage top should be real close since the UV bulb was radiating the probe itself from above from not a long distance..

-joe

i use a 60 watts daylight and it stays around 70 during the day. i have heard from numerous people that it is always good to give them some kind of daylight. so i keep the light about a foot away from the cage and it avg. around 78. at night it drops to about 70 in my house so i use no light, just a 40 watt red for viewing and feeding. i live in Va so its not quite the same but almost i guess. peace

sorry i made a mistake. it stays around 78ish during the day.

I don't use any heat/light with my crested gecko, I just leave him at room temperature. It ranges from 68F lows to 75F high during the day. I do keep him near heat vent but not too close to bring the temp above 75F. I keep the temp probe on the same side of the cage as the one closest to the heat vent to ensure it doesn't get too hot. With it warming out outside, probably move the entire tank to the main floor to ensure it doesn't over heat with the summer temperatures.

So far he is thiving, growing an inch since I bought him around December (he was about 5" when I bought him, now he is around 6" and plump).

Almost any room temp that is comfortable to you is ok as long as it is not above 85 or so. Unless your house gets really cold at night below 60 or so I would just put the light on one end. Keep the screen top temp at around 80. This way it is cool enough in the tank but it is warm in a spot. This way when the gecko gets to warm it can always go to a cooler side.

I'm getting a wide variety of temps during the evening... I even noticed that after misting th etank down in the early evening I get mid 60's in the tank.. but about an hour later it might be low 70's...

I've seen almost 90 (87) on the top tank screen at the same time I see a nice 70-73 temp in the substrate (Zoo Med peat moss)

I guess I gotta learn how to deal with vertical temp zones within his lil home (I'm just used to temp zones along a horizontal surface such as Mali's and Bearded's)..

He's already figured out whether to be on the branch near the top (70-85) or down low in the moss (60-70).. He's lively at night so he seems normal and happy too.. eating crix !!