New Crestie/Temp?

[psydoc]

After doing some research with my daughter, we selected a crestie for her 8th birthday. I picked it up yesterday and find that I have a few questions. We have a exo-terra tank set-up, which was set up by the breeder. I live in Maine, so its cold now and the house is kept at around 60-62 degrees during the day. The breeder gave me a lamp set up which fits over the cage. I purchased a thermometer, which I put in the cage. The temp this afternoon was around 65/66...it may have continued to rise after I left. Is this too cold (I know the recommended temp is around 70-75).

Question 2 - I could not find said crestie this AM and this afternoon. H/she was definitely in the cage last night. There are some nice natural live plants in there etc., but I kind of spent some time trying to find it. I seriously doubt it got out of the cage somehow....how long should I let him/her get used to the environment before I start to panic?

Thank you.

[zuk450]

I would try and warm the cage up a bit more, 65* is a really good night time temp. my cresties seem just as active when kept at 65-70 as when they are kept at 75-80, so it wont harm them, but for ideal growth i would try to get it into the mid 70s.

if you arent sure if the little guy is in the cage or not i would dig around in there until he was found. you usually want to give them a few weeks to adjust before you start handling them regularly, but make sure he didnt escape 

(i thought one of mine had escaped once but it has actually burried itself under about 1/2 inch of soil, i have heard of others cresties doing this as well so he may be doing that if you cant see him up in the plants)

[crazytanak]

Mine hide in their cage quite well. It sometimes takes me 15 min to find a little crestie (only to realize she was in the plant right in front of me in plain sight!) They are experts at finding the perfect hiding spot. Ive gone 2-3 days without seeing on of mine, she just hides that good.

[architeuthis]

I live in upstate NY, as do a few of the other posters around here. A little extra warmth might be a good idea. I use ultratherm undertank heaters, which can be used on glass AND plastic. I order them from www.reptilebasics.com. Good luck, and keep us posted.

[Leif]

There are a couple of ways you can increase the heat to the enclosure. A higher wattage bulb will help but a rheostat or regulator is recommended so when those warmer weeks creep up on us we don't forget to turn the heat bulb off. A good space heater in the room the enclosure is in is probably the easiest. We use a voronado during the winter and highly recommend this brand.

Just as architeuthis  said a under tank heater is useful and these geckos, even though arboreal, will utilize the floor level of the enclosure during the day to hide and sleep. A heater under a humid hide along with another hide on the cool end will work. The most inexpensive hide available is a toilet paper roll and does good for the cool hide. Hope this helps.