Crested gecko lighting??

[milkandsam]

Hello!
My fiancé and I have had 2 crested geckos for a little over a year. We know they do not require uvb/uva so we were wondering if we could buy a regular light bulb that would work to heat their terrarium. We have been using the blue zoomed bulbs but they burn out extremely quickly for us... not sure why. Any advice would be great!

 

[Amanda1]

What are your temps? Cresties do very well at room temperature, so I've never needed anything to heat mine. You need to be very careful if you are heating them, because temperatures above 80 can be deadly. That said, I do have regular light bulbs on my terrariums, but those are for the plants not the geckos. The geckos are always hiding while those are on anyway.

 

[lisa127]

I ended up with my newphews crestie for a couple of years. I did not use any heat bulbs at all. For viewing, I used those small string Christmas lights, in red and draped them over the enclosure. That way I was not adding any heat.

 

[Floof]

Agreed with the previous posts... As long as temps are above 65ish (normal comfortable temp range for us humans), extra heat is unnecessary and even risky.

If you want a display light during the day, a low wattage fluorescent tube, LED, Lisa's christmas lights idea... Something very low to no heat output will do the trick. But, as you know, even that would just be for your benefit (or the benefit of live plants, if you use them)--Cresties are nocturnal and do just fine with normal household ambient lighting.

Though as just a general statement... Yes, normal household incandescent bulbs can be used in place of the expensive zoo med bulbs. With the exception of the UVB bulbs and CHEs, that's all the pet store bulbs really are--overpriced incandescent bulbs with a colored coating!

 

[milkandsam]

Thank you all!!! We have had them for a year and haven't had any issues, the apartment is just a little cold and drafty. Thank you all for the advice!!! I will post pictures of our new enclosure when we get it done
First step... lights and preliminary cleaning