colors, humidity, and shedding

[rebel_logan_24]

ok so i have two juvie cresties (Death Punch - High red and AWOL - harlequin flame) we are pretty sure are females but checking them about onece a month to be sure.. i have noticed at night their 12 x 12 x 18 exo terra drops down to about 63 degrees and gets up to about 72 degrees during the day. the only light i have is a uvb plant light that doesnt put off heat and with it being a planted viv it stays about 70 -75% humidity.

my questions are:
is this humidity level too high?

and i have noticed on some cooler nights when the temps get down to about 63 i turn on the lights in the morning and the cresties are a very light beige color much different from their normal flame harlequin and high red. is this normal or because they are getting to cold? and what can i do to raise temps with out keeping them in the 80 degee range?

and one more question how do you tell when a crestie is about to shed? i also have snakes and a bearded dragon and no when they will be coming into shed but i wasnt sure on these little guys with their different type of scales.

thanks for the help Logan

 

[darkridder]

You do want to give the tank some time to dry out so it is normal to allow the humidity to drop down to around 50% by late afternoon, but by doing your second misting in the evening before they awake it will raise the humidity back up for them. Which is hard to do with a planted tank, the reason you let it fall lower is to keep from molds building up.

If you notice them light in color you are seeing their fired down colors. Some cresteds may stay fired up or partially fired up at all times, but most fire down by morning to their muted sleep colors. Remember a bright red gecko trying to hide in leaf litter is easier to see than a fired down brownish gecko. And remember you dont want these guys in the 80's range, when you hit 82 you should be seeing flags and sirens going off as youre in danger zone. These guys can tolerate around 65 at night, some nights being a bit cooler isnt an issue, remember in the wild it would naturally cool down. But if you wanted you could tss on a 7-15 watt black light on their tank at night which should give them a basking area of around 72 which is fine, remember you have 2 geckos in a rather small tank (IMO that is barely large enough for a single adult), they need to be able to get away from the heat if they want too.

And as far as shed, there is no real way, one day you will look at them and see their skin is starting to lift up, and then by morning they have snarfed it down.