Temperature Help???

[HappysDauber]

Hello everyone! I'm a little new to this site and forums in general, so bear with me.

I'm a beginner in owning reptiles, and just recently got a crestie (teetering on 2 years old), and along with him, I purchased a 12 x 12 x 18 Exo Terra Tank with a screen top and a Pangea DTH-100 hygrometer. Knight (my crestie) has only been here for two days and I've noticed some issues with maintaining his viv's ambient temperature. It varies daily from about 77-80 F, but ideally, since its the summer in Indiana, I'd like to have his tank be closer to around 73-74 F ish so I don't have to worry about the possibility of him overheating or getting too stressed out with a combination of higher temps + the transition to moving into my home. I've tried all sorts of things like the frozen water bottle + fan method and closing curtains on the windows that have them, but if I'm not paying close enough attention, the temperature begins to climb back up to 78-79 F and 75-76 F at night and it's definitely kept me on my toes. I do have vents open, but no significant A/C unit in the room Knight is currently staying in. I've considered moving him downstairs where its cooler, but I don't want to risk anything since the basement is not as clean as it used to be. Right now, the thermostat in our house reads 74 F.

I have no idea what to do; I expected that I would have to monitor the viv temp often, but not so that I'm anxious to leave my home. I'm desperately hoping it ends up being the fault of the hygrometer... any advice/solutions would be GREATLY appreciated.

Sincerely, a very concerned (newly) gecko parent.

[Sublime Reptiles]

Simply turn off the light Optimum temp for these guys is around 75 which can be hard to achieve in that size enclosure with a light bulb. Generally I would recommend something like a 7 watt bulb to give you a little heat boost if needed. But in general youre over thinking it, 68-78 is a fine range for these guys. I use 78 as the cut off as it allows you to increase a few more degrees without it being too stressful on the animal. Much above 80 is when it tends to cause stress. And most light bulbs can effect and bother their eyes, so I always recommend no light bulbs at night (including the ones marketed for night time bulbs), if you need supplemental heating at night go with either a ceramic heat emitter, or an under tank heater attached to the side of the enclosure.

One thing you can do always do is put the light on a thermostat which will regulate the heat for you. You set it to the temp you want and it control turning the heat source on and off to for you. Another trick you can try is simply using a dimmer switch from the hardware store. This reduces the energy to the device making it not heat up as much. This works best for under tank heaters, but is not as accurate as a thermostat.

[Roro27]

Honestly your gecko is older and they can tolerate higher temps. Of course you dont want them to overheat or stress but temps up to even 82 are perfectly fine for them. You seem to be doing everything you can and your ambient temps seem fine to me (they prefer it warmer anyways). Your ideal temps of 73-74 is close to what I aim for in the winter months (75). Misting the enclosure can drop the temp inside a few degrees because of the evaporation. I do this along with an ice pack or frozen bottle as long as theres not already too much moisture inside (from the melting of the ice pack/bottle).

Another thing I do if it's really hot and it's hard to keep up with switching out ice packs is put my crestie in a kritter keeper with a few leaves and the cork bark she sleeps in. This allows you to easily move them to another cooler location if need be and if not it's just easier to maintain a cooler temp in something smaller. Once it cools down a bit I wait until shes up and I put her back in the larger enclosure.

Another thing I noticed is if I turn on a fan in my room it raises the temp because the fan is just blowing the hot air around so that could affect whatever your thermometer is saying. I move the fan or my crestie away to get a more accurate reading on the temp.