Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,
We are still toying with the idea of getting a crested gecko as a pet, and had some questions.
What are tricks to keep the tank cool enough? We are worried that our hot CA summers might be too much for a gecko. A garter snake might be a better choice since they are used to wide temperature extremes (I prefer snakes, my husband prefers geckos, and we only want one reptile pet). We are often living in places with no central AC, and sometimes the inside gets to 86. Outside is over 100 many days. Maybe crested geckos are too delicate for us. We do like their looks and their simple diet.
Also, how messy are they to clean up after? They poop much more than a snake would I'm sure. Are they very stinky?
Any help would be much appreciated.

Im no crested expert but my neighbor upstairs has one. I have read alot of care sheets on them and from what I understand you dont want it to get over 80 in the cage 75 being ideal whith 60 to 80 percent humidity. His eats about 6 to 8 crix a night to every other night. its about 5/6 inches long growth rate seems to be alot slower than my tokay. With that much food going in that often it has to come out often, probably poops more than a snake that eats less times a week. the cage wont smell if you take care of it spot cleaning, maintenece, ect. I hope this doesnt turn you away from cresties because his is a great little lizard very freindly. Im sure someone else with experience with them will chime in and fill in the blanks and correct were I was wrong good luck and do a little research.

You definitely want to keep a crested gecko in a room which doesn't exceed 80F on a regular basis. This can be maintained by using AC in the room set at say 78F so if the room hits that temperature the AC will come on to cool the temperature down for that room. Window or portable AC's work great to maintain the temperature in a single room especially if the room is small and lacks windows which are west or east facing. (if they are, use a solid blind or heavy curtains to prevent the room being heated up by the sun.)

You mentioned something about moving around to places that can get hotter than others. It would be best not to bring a crested gecko into really warm rooms or travel with them.

As crested geckos are temperate zone lizards they do best at normal room temperatures with little to no supplemental heat. The best temperature range for geckos are between 70-78F. They can tolerate cooler temperatures but this tends to put them into a cooling state where they are not as active anymore. But kept too cool for too long can harm them but not as bad as temperatures over 85F (which can quickly kill them, especially young crested geckos).

Crested geckos do poop often, at least once a day, if not a few times. However it isn't hard to clean up after them. If paper towel is used as a substrate, only takes a few minutes to completely clean the cage, or just spot clean.

Crested geckos do well on one of two types of powdered diet, Superfoods Complete Meal replacement powder by T-Rex or Clark's complete crested gecko diet. Just add two parts water to one part powder and feed every day for babies/juvenile and every other day for adults, no additional supplements or live insects required. Offering crickets, mealworms, small silkworms or butterworms as a treat now in again, is fine. I find this is the best diet to give crested geckos as its far more nutritionally balanced than using baby food, insects and multivitamin dustings. Not to mention you don't have to worry about buying crickets, cut loading them, dusting them than feeding them to the crested gecko. In the long run the powdered diets are cheaper..as a 4 oz bag for a single adult gecko lasts a year.

I also find the diet doesn't cause smelly poo in geckos, but like any poo if its not cleaned up regularly it will eventually start to smell. Cleaning the cage at least once or twice a week definitely will prevent any buildup of smell.

Just as an alternative...since you like snakes and the spouse likes lizards (or the other way around, can't remember now) you could always look into legless lizards....
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PHLdyPayne

PHldy,

Thank you for all of your help with everyone. You seem very knowledgeable, which is a help for those of us trying to learn.
I noticed your back and forth with donald94 below, and realized he had similar questions about temperature. AC run too much does cost. We are used to just running it in the late afternoon and early evening when we get home from work, and try to tough it out at night with a fan. We'd have to change our lifestyle a lot to have a Crested Gecko. They may be better for people living in milder climates, or those with central heat and air. I'm pretty sure a garter snake could handle the wild fluctuations better than a gecko. We'd just have to have under-tank heat for the winter.
The gecko diet does seem easier than almost any other reptile pet. But I just don't know if that outweighs the idea of having the AC on all summer. We always go to bed at 10 anyway, so a diurnal animal may fit our schedule better.

I am glad to help

Crested geckos can still be kept in warm climates depending on how your home is set up. If you have a basement, the temperatures down there are likely to be as much as 20F cooler than temperatures on the main floor. If you don't have a basement, and every room has large windows, it is harder to keep rooms cool. A small room with little or no windows (or covered windows) and decent insulation is alot easier to maintain a constant temperature than a large open area. But a suitable room in your home may not be idea for a crested gecko (ie if its your laundry room, or bathroom...no fun having a pet you can only see while on the can ) Or you may be like me, living in a one bedroom apartment.

But it does take alot of power to run a 9000 BTU AC unit even in a small room...much more than a 20 or 40 watt heating pad. So getting a crested gecko may not be idea for you due to the added cost of keeping a room sufficiently cool. One thing you could do is get a digital thermometer which can record the high and low temperatures in a 24 hour period and place them in different rooms, see how much it heats up during the day on a hot day. Especially in a room that doesn't have a east or west facing wall/window.

Garter snakes I don't know a huge amount about and there are so many different kinds. I expect the common garter snake I get up here in Canada may not do so well in temperatures over 85F if it doesn't have a cool retreat to go into. But Florida garter snakes probably have a much better tolerance for heat...but should still provide a cool end of its cage to retreat to. Even a bowl of water for it to enter completely can help cool the snake. (this won't work with geckos...they don't do the soak in water thing very well). I am sure you can find out more specific information about the type of garter snake you are considering over in the garter snake forum. (or may be lumped in 'other snakes'...can't remember if we have a separate forum for garters).

There are also all kinds of other lizards that do well in warm to hot temperatures, such as bearded dragons, uromastyx, blue tongued skinks, collard lizards, and just about any other kind that is common in semi arid and desert environments. Your only real limiting factor is experience in taking care of reptiles, the space you have available for the adult animal (ie bearded dragons, uro's and Blue tongued skinks need a cage at least 4'x2' floor space (beardeds need height of 18-24", uro's and BTS's be ok with 16-18", preference in feeding insects vs vegetation, money for daily care and total animal/cage and upkeep time. Day geckos I believe are more heat tolerant too...and like their name implies, they are active during the day. Leopard geckos are also desert dwelling geckos..fairly common and easy to care for and not at all expensive to keep or house. Morphs can get a big costly but many are under the $100 range, some even as low as $50 (haven't really priced these guys so my prices may be off too...and I also only really seen Canadian prices..which often is as much as twice as more for the same type/morph than you would see in the US, even if differences in the dollar isn't considered).
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PHLdyPayne

Garter snake would like cooler temps like a crestie too.So that really isn't an issue.