Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a friend that ust gave me what looks like a half dead crested gecko, I have been trying to keep him/her alive for 24 hours now. He says he bought it at a pet shop, and during the car ride home it over heated in the carrier. I was curious what others thought about temps, and what it can do to cresteds. He acts like he is paralized. I have tried to keep him in the right temps, but he doesn't seem to be comming around, and before I put him down, I thought I would ask and see if any other keepers and breeders have had issues and problems with high temps affecting your cresteds, and what happened to them. Thanks in advence.
David
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"Life is a Safari"

Crested geckos are very sensitive to temperatures over 80F and can suffer from heat stroke. From the condition of the crested gecko you have, it most likely is suffereing severe heatstroke. All you can really do is make sure it's well hydrated and in a cooler environment (70-78F) then just wait and see if it pulls through.

I have been trying, I just don't want the little guy to suffer. If they do come out of it, how long can it take? thank you for your response.
David
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"Life is a Safari"

i would say extended periods of time over 90 degrees will be fatal. i was being over careful to keep my crested warm one winter on the car ride home after purchasing her. she was hardly breathing by the time i noticed. i pulled over, dribbled water over her for about 20 minutes and over the next few days she came out of it and was eating well. i would say the temp she was at for over 20 minutes was probably about 90 degrees F.
also, if it is from a pet store it could have been unhealthy to begin with. how does it look physically? i would constantly be trying to get it to drink some water because once it starts doing that it should start to recover if it isn't too far along.

in a thermoregulation lecture in my herpetology class, my teacher made a very general statement, and although he is a renowned herpetologist, i dont know how true this holds across all lizards...but there is a thermal min and a thermal max (critical values), beyond either of which is the "point of no return." he said one way of finding out if this critical value had been exceeded was to turn the lizard onto its back, if it cannot right itself then it is beyond help. cant say it holds true 100% of the time, especially with captive animals.
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-Mike Martin
North Carolina