New Crested Gecko in my classroom

[NHavard]

Hi,
Last week we were awarded a Crested Gecko as a class pet. So far the kids love him and he has lots of visitors from other students in the school. The problem that I'm having is keeping his temperature up. The best I can do is the Low 70's. I have a heat lamp that came with his cage and I have ordered an under the tank warmer. Also he does not seem to be eating his food. I make fresh food daily and he has crickets. I think he may have eaten 2 crickets or they have died somewhere and I just cant find them. Is there anything else that I can do to make him happy? The kids are not allowed to hold him. I pet him and touch him before the kids get here. But now I'm reading that I should not do that for 2 weeks. HELP

 

[indyana]

Congratulations on your classroom pet!

The first thing is that you don't need very high heat for a created gecko. They do best when they have a temperature gradient from 65 - 80 F. If the school gets very cold in the winter, you may need to get a ceramic heat emitter or other heat source, but they don't need very hot basking areas. You'll want the bottom of the tank to remain cooler, so if you decide you need to use the heater, maybe stick it to the back up top so the top half is the warmer half. Be careful about weekends... I know a lot of schools don't run heating/cooling unless the students are there, and these guys have a pretty narrow range of temperatures they can tolerate. You can measure the temperature with an infrared temp gun (most accurate) or a digital thermometer with a probe. Don't bother with any of the dial thermometers at the pet stores... horribly inaccurate.

I'd also recommend sticking to a good quality crested gecko food and not feeding insects while he settles in. Pangea and Repashy are good brands--the complete diets and meal replacement powders are ideal. Also, you might try mixing new food every other day, as some geckos like it slightly fermented. Basically, the second day you add a bit of water and stir it up. You'll want him eating crested gecko food before bugs, as they food is more nutritionally balanced. If he's new, it may take 2-4 weeks for him to really settle in, and the activity in the classroom might prolong that period.

Finally, make sure you are misting well at least once a day. Crested geckos need a humidity cycle where it spikes up into the 90% range, preferably in the evening, and it dries out to about 50% by the next day.

Here's a really good site with crested gecko information:
Crested Gecko Care Sheet & Guide | moonvalleyreptiles.com

The site has an entire library of topics, from housing to nutrition, that may help answer some of your questions.
Crested Geckos Breeders: Correlophus ciliatus | moonvalleyreptiles.com