Do crested geckos need additional heating if your house stays at a constant 70 degrees? also, do u need uv?

Question

Do crested geckos need additional heating if your house stays at a constant 70 degrees? also, do u need uv?

Answer 1

UVB helps them grow but your geckos dont need it and you dont need a heat sorce that temerature is fien but when seasons change it might be recommended

Answer 2

Nope.  Mine are consistently at 68-72 and are perfectly healthy.  Also, they do NOT require UVB... they are nocturnal and do not get much UVB at all in the wild because they sleep hiding in leaves.  They do not need UVB exposure to thrive.  As long as they are being properly supplemented with their food (crested gecko diet or baby food with vitamins), they should be just fine.

Answer 3

You don't NEED a uv. But it can't hurt and some people think it's helpful. You should be fine without additional heating.

Answer 4

Despite the other answers, you do infact require UVB UNLESS you are using a vitamin suppliment.  Vitamin K which is provided by the sun is necessary for your crested gecko to properly digest its meals.  Vitamin suppliments which are readily available at most pet stores does off-set the need for a UVB lamp, however I find the lamp is the better option of the two.  It is also important to know that you will need to change your UVB bulb every 6-9 months.  While it may still give off light, the amount of UVB let off by the light deminishes across the life of the bulb and will often be quite miniscule by the time the bulb actually "dies".  Eventhough crested geckos are nocturnal, you do have to bare in mind that your geckos will recieve amounts of sunlight (and thus vitamin k) both during twilight and during sun-rise before it goes to sleep for the day.

You do not require a heat lamp with a constant house temp of 70 degrees, however if you have easy control over the temperature I would suggest upping it slightly to 72 degrees as you won't really notice it, but your gecko will.  As opposed to the heat lamp, you can attach a heat pad to the wall of the tank (rather than the base of it) to provide a slight bit more heat that your gecko can go to should it wish for a little more warmth.  If you're thinking "the sun gives UVB... I'll just stick it infront of the window"... sorry, but you're out of luck with that one.  Window glass filters UV light, so it won't gain anything helpful from that.  Additionally the sunlight could increase the temperature inside your tank to a dangerously high level for your crestie despite the fact that the ambient air temp is actually set at 70.

To summarize, up your house temp to 72, attach a heatpad to the wall of the tank, and provide either a UVB lamp or vitamin suppliment.

Answer 5

Hmmm, conflicting advice!

UV is totally unnecessary, but the addition of supplements isn't. These little lizards can get all they require from the feeding of cgd supplemented with calcium dusted crickets. The only real time you may require lighting is if you chose to use real plants in their viv.  

Temperature wise you're pretty much borderline. 72 degrees is the ideal all year around (higher than 85 can be dangerous for them) so providing your temps don't drop during the winter months you should be fine, they don't mind night time temperature drops.

Have a browse at this website, they have years of experience for you to draw on, and they really are the most delightful reptile to keep!

http://www.pangeareptile.com/id52.htm