I’m setting up a enclosure for my baby crested gecko. The artificial plant in the middle is temporary and the jungle vine is being delivered. Is there anything I can improve on?
If those foam rolls are hollow, make sure to cut them open. That way, they can work as extra hiding space, and the gecko won’t be able to get stuck. Ive heard stories of a few geckos that got stuck in them after they fell down and they tried to hide in them. More foliage would be nice, but it looks good overall imo
Thank you, the inside of the foam roll is completely filled. I have one more question. My gecko’s terrarium is in my bedroom, so instead of a heat lamp, I purchased an Exo Terra Heat Mat (16W). However, it’s not helping at all. The product description says it’s suitable for glass terrariums, but aren’t heat mats supposed to raise the temperature significantly?
If you’re trying to heat the enclosure itself, you’re going to need something like a lamp or a ceramic heart emitter. Heat mats can be used for heating the specific areas they’re touching, but they do not heat the air. For both CHEs and mats you’ll want a thermostat to make sure they’re not getting to hot.
@noodlehaus Then, would my crestie need a different heating product? If I were to buy a ceramic heat emitter, what wattage would be appropriate? My terrarium is 40x30x30 cm.
If you want to change the temperature in the entire enclosure, yes, you would. I’ll let @autumngeckos & @ghoulishcresties offer you their expertise there, as I am unsure which particular product would be appropriate and not impact your overall humidity too much.
How warm is your bedroom? Most cresties will do ok at room temperature (around 22-28c/72-82f, during the night it can get even lower no problem). If you need to heat the entire enclosure, you’d need something like a nano halogen bulb. Like Noodlehaus said, heat mats don’t really raise the ambient temperature, they only provide a hotspot, which can work ok for a crestie if it’s at most 30c/86f, and it’s on a thermostat. The heat-bulb would also need to be on a thermostat, in general any heating provided to any reptile should be on one.
My room temperature drops to about 17–18°C (63–64°F) when the heating is off. Currently, I’m using a radiator at night, but I can’t keep it running during the day because it increases my electricity bill significantly.
Ah ok, i would look into getting a small halogen on a thermostat for daytime heating them then. 17-18c would be ok at night only, but during the day it really needs to get to around 21-23c during winter, and even warmer during the summer months (though i assume that won’t be a problem)
I think it will love it, I do something similar, this is easy to clean, providing enrichment, and 100x better than any plastic breeder bin ,one suggestion cover the floor with some peat moss, give him some fluffy leaf piles to fall / jump onto aand rough the noodles up with a woodworking rasp or drill bit to give some better hooking potential for the tiny claws. (we take a drill bit and make a faux ladder of sorts) you can also create ledges and food pockets, these noodles rock for decor.
Im sure others have covered the topic of temps, so we are just simply rating the decor <3
Thank you all so much! I feel reassured because of everyone here . @lakereptiles, I don’t think I fully understood what you said. You’re suggesting making the surface of the foam roll rough, right? I’m also not sure what ‘noodles’ refers to. My English isn’t great… haha.
The noodles are what we call the blue things in the enclosure.
Thank you😊
I don’t know much about you enclosure but I will say something I’ve learned in my years of animal keeping is the easiest cages to clean are the best. As long as the animals needs are being met it will thrive. I know that sounds harsh and I am not judging your husbandry at all, just something that I believe is one of the top killers of animals across the industry.