First Crestie

[atryec]

We got our first Crestie a few days ago. Previous owners said Harry was a boy, and roughly 18 months old.
Looking at pictures online, we think Harry is a Harriet.

Not sure what colour morph she is, once she settles in properly, and will allow us to handle her, we'll take some pics. Might try later, as we need to move things around in her viv, as the heat mat is currently between the glass and poly wall on back of viv and all the heat is going outwards, nothing inwards :main_no:

So we're planning on moving the heat mat to the outside underneath the viv, and replacing the bark chips with eco earth. That might help keep the humidity were it should be.

She's loving locusts, which we're trying to get her off, they said she won't eat the fruit and CGD, though since we've had her, she has at least tasted both. Also we want her to have brown crickets, and have locusts only as treats.

I'll uploads pics as and when we take them, and I'm looking forward to getting lots of advice from you all

 

[tlbowling]

Congratulations on your new crestie, and you can ditch the heat mat, cresties don't need one
Looking forward to seeing pix.

 

[atryec]

Just leave it completely? I was thinking of at least putting it in place for winter, our house gets quite cold November to february.
At the minute, the temp of the viv is down to 20 minimum at night (I looked at 3am the other morning after my night out ) but I'm sure it will drop as low as 17-18 during the winter months. Even my dogs go to bed with a jumper on during winter lol.

We need to weigh her too, so hopefully when hubby gets home to help, we can try for pics and weighing

 

[tlbowling]

Im guessing the temps you gave me are in celcius? I looked it up and converted it into farenheit and the temp of 20C converted to 68F, those temps are fine. Cresties can safely go into the low 60s during the winter months. You really dont need the heat mat, plus they are arboreal, so most dont spend too much time on the floor. If you feel that youd like to provide some heat, or your room temps get too cool, depending on the size of your enclosure you can safely add a low wattage (15 to 25 watt) red heat bulb. The heat bulb would probably be a better heat source for a crested gecko than a heat mat.

EDIT: Im not saying you cant use the heat mat, but I think the heat bulb would be more effective. Im sure some people use heat mats too, in that case though, I'd make sure I did have it on the wall and run it on a thermostat set no higher than 72-75 if it was me.