Crested Gecko Heating Questions

[somegrey]

Hi there! I'm new to owning geckos and knowing what they need. I have a few questions for my future enclosure.
I want to know if I should get a heating mat for my crested gecko. Yes I do know that they don't really need addition heating and that the preferable heat is room temperature which is around 75 - 80 degrees. However I live in a chilly state and my apartment has crappy heating. So I was thinking that maybe if I used a heating mat and stuck it outside of the tank, it would keep the temperature up when it's a cold day. I have heard that heating mats can really affect the glass tanks but help with the humidity. I also considered getting a heat emitter bulb however since I'm using a converted 20 gallon tank vertically and there's no mesh lid, it's gonna turn into a oven for the gecko. So should I get a heating mat instead? I planned on placing it on the back side of the tank because I know that some crested geckos don't spend much time on the ground floor.

 

[acpart]

Some people do that. I don't. Temperatures in my New England living room at night when the lights are off is probably in the mid 60's and the gecko is fine. If you want to add some heat, I'd recommend you get heat cable (which can be taped on and then reconfigured if needed). You should also invest in a thermostat to keep the heat from getting too high. Then you have to keep an eye on the gecko to make sure it's not clinging to the wall with the heat cable in a way that will burn it. You could put the cable on a timer so it only goes on at night and depend on the heat from the lights (assuming you're going to have them, possibly for plants if you plan on including them).

Aliza