Getting 2 crested geckos, advice please?

[adam + suzie]

Hi, have currently got a leopard gecko, am intending to get 2 female cresties but am unsure as to the heating and light situation. What watt bulb will they need? I'm in the understanding they don't need heat mats as the main issue with them is the day/night period. 10-12 hours a day of lights on but i've read temperatures can't go below a certain farenheight at night and living in the uk it does get cold at night here in the winter. How will i regulate the temperature if the lights on period is restricted to 12 hours a day and no heat mats cuz they shouldn't get too hot? Very confusing, any advice much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

 

[mom2twinsplus2]

Too much heat is bad for Cresteds and basically room temp (72-ish) is fine for them. I have mine in 20 gallon talls in my living rom and they seem to be doing well there. I have a 15 or 25 (I forget-LOL) watt blue bulb over a fake tree (one of two fake trees) that I leave on all the time for a little bit of extra heat since my temp in the room is the low end of 72 lately with the cold weather. It is also nice to be able to see what is going on in there at night when they are more active. I have also purchased a 2.0 UVB reptisun bulbs that I plan to set up over the tank and leave on during the day. I am not sure if I will do 8 hours on now for winter or if I will just do 14 hours on all year round. I just haven't gotten around to setting it all up yet. I know lots of people don't think the nocternal geckos need UV but I figure it will help with the day/night cycles and it can't hurt anything and maybe it will be good for them.

Alison

 

[darkridder]

Do realize 2 adult females will cost you alot simply becaue they are females. Do you plan on starting out with 2 juvies and hope they are females? If they end up being male/male male/female that is no biggie, they can be in the same tank so long as you have it properly divided. 2 adults of any kind should be housed in a 29 gallon. Like I said if male/male or male/female just divide the tank in half. You can either use a fish aquarium divider (but be careful thy can figure out how to climb over it!). The other way is to take plexi glass, cut out 2 knotches in the top rim so that the plexi glass can slide in and sit flush on all 4 sides. The 29 is a nice size as if you need to divide it, each gecko will get almost 15 gallons worth of the tank.

Otherwise if you plan on getting little ones, keep them in med-large kritter keepers until them are about 8-10g then they can be moved up into a 10 gallon tank. Once they hit about 20g they can be moved up into the 29 gallon.

No heat is needed for these guys unless you get around 65 degrees in the room. SO if you find the room is getting that cold, you can use a little 25 watt black light at night, it will allow them a slightly warmer basking area without heating the whole tank. Now if they are in kk's, just keep them in a warmer room, you dont want to try and put a heat light over them, they wil warm up to much and there will be no cool spot for the gecko to go to if it wishes. But you really dont want these guys to get up into the 80's, 85 is danger zone, they start to tress out and can die. Best temps for these guys are 72-78 range.

I personally run a light cycle that to compaired to what is here. For one it hlps when cooling females, the understand the day time photo period is shortened therefore breeding has stopped (and along with the cooler temps). So my lights run from 7:30 am till 7pm here. The sun has gone down by then for about 1.5 hours, but I find its a good photo period for my reptiles. Then in the warmer months it runs from 7am-9pm. Some geckos have UV lights over them (the females) others do not have lights at all. Between 3 windows in my bedroom and a beardie cage with a mercury vapor mist light bulb which makes everything bright, I dont feel the beed to light every single cage. Remember they are forest so the dont get tons of sunlight, but they do get some.