Building wooden enclosure?

[trickyspark]

I'm planning on building my bearded dragon a large wooden enclosure. He currently is in a 40 gallon tank, but I want something bigger. His setup has top mounted heat light/uv lights. I plan to implement this in the new enclosure I build.

I was wondering for my gecko, how could I build an enclosure and heat it like I have his current tank? The gecko is in a 10 gallon tank at the moment, with an UTH that keeps half the tank at 90, the other side hovers around 70-75. He has his humid hide, water bowl, food bowl, etc....it just looks so cramped. There is no room for the decorative stuff I'd like to put in.

I figure while I'm building the dragon's house, I'll build the gecko one too. I just am unsure about how to heat it. I've been told that gecko's don't like heat from above and that's why you use an UTH as opposed to a ceramic overhead heater. I'm not sure if that's true or not. I wonder could I use an overhead heater if I build a wooden enclosure (glass front) for my gecko? Would an UTH work? I would think it wouldn't penetrate the wood properly. Would the best bet to be to get tile and place the UTH under that, but inside the tank?

 

[pmkent1]

Its more that they dont like overhead light than heat. Theyre nocturnal animals and lights can stress them out. Id go with your tile floor with the UTH under that.

 

[LIZARDLOVER]

If you have the choice, I'd simply put it in the old 40 gallon tank. In my experience, leopard geckos (which I'm assuming is what you mean) don't do well in wooden cages. The heaters can cause too much of a hot spot directly under tile in their tank, and I'd worry about possible burns. However it could be worth a shot, just make sure the heater isn't at all exposed and stays at a safe temp.