how to heat this..

[peterm15]

heres a link to the thing im planing on getting for my hatchlings ( when i start breeding)... ill be getting 2... one for leos and one for cresties... so abviously ill need to heat the leos and i figure the cresties should be fine... ( i keep my room at 75) ...

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=882192&cat=90830&type=1&dept=4044&path=0%3A4044%3A90828%3A90830

so without building a rack is this a good option... i dont have the room for shelves and stuff... but these can be tucked away( in a corner) dont take up alot of room and should be easy to clean...

i will add extra ventilation so that not a prob.. but my ? is how could i heat them without taking up to many plugs... only 1 shelving unit has to be heated ( can swing 2) but would perfer useing 1 heat method to heat unit.. ie one plug per shelving unit...

would putting it in front of a peice of wood with heat tape be best or something else...

any suggestions opinions and tips welcome thanks

[mykee]

My suggestion, rather than "settling" with something that is terribly flimsey and not the easiest to heat, would be to build a small rack that would suit your needs to a tee. It would take up as much room, and you wouldn't be compromising anything.

[silent_truth]

okay, well I see you are a fan of this design much like myself. Now, the problem is that these storage towers have a gap at the top of each bin that is big enough for any arboreal geckos to escape through. Therefore, baby cresties can't be kept in these. However, most common terrestrial geckos seem to do great in them! But again, there's a slight catch. As I have found out the hard way, some baby geckos (pictus and leos) have been able to scale these bins to the top where they can escape. To prevent this, I suggest forming a "lip" around the inside edge of each bin. Adult geckos can't escape, just the very young ones that are as light as feathers, that they can get to the top with enough determination.

As far as heating goes, a simple strip of 11" heat tape wired and secured to the back of the rack should work perfectly. Of course use this with a temp. controlling device (ie. thermostat).

The racks that I have in my closet do not require insulation, as the closet maintains an 80 F ambient temp as a result of the heat tape. However, my room gets a bit cool at night and during the winter months, so I cut and secured some "foil insulation" that I picked up at Home Depot for $12/ 10ft roll. This forces the heat through the bins as opposed to letting it escape out the back. This should only be necessary if your room is a bit on the cool side though. However, check your temps once you get it setup and then tinker with it from there.

Here's some pics of mine....

Rack in the closet (note small bins not used for geckos. They will be removed and replaced with larger bins)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/adam2383/Pets/closetrack.jpg

The rack in my room, showing the insulation used to keep heat in bins.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/adam2383/Pets/insulation.jpg

The rack itself (which will be duplicated three more times for an ever-expanding gecko colony)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/adam2383/Pets/newrack.jpg


Hope this helps a bit,

-Adam

[oscar]

very impressive set up Adam. its so simple, but seems to fit your needs perfectly.
i'm thinking of getting a few smaller terrestrial geckos and such a solution might work very well for me too.

[peterm15]

thanks alot guys... by the sounds of it no matter what im gonna have to build a small rack.... ill prob use the shelf for leos and a few 10 gal tanks for the cresties( i just bought 3 last night)...

thanks alot...