1st Time Crested Owner

Just picked up this male at the Expo this weekend after purchasing an Zilla Tropical Vertical Kit (12x12x18) over 5 years ago (never used). He’s been a lot of fun (especially with the kids).

The kit came with a halogen light which I’m not going to use because it emits heat. Any recommendations on a light as well as a small digital thermometer/hygrometer?

Also, for those using a bio active enclosure, how has your experience been? Is it easy to maintain? I’m not a fan of my current setup (seems a little cramped) and the bio actives at the Expo were really cool looking.

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Cresties do well with access to spaces a little above room temp, so a small heat lamp at an appropriate power level (dimmer, or better a thermostat) isn't necessarily useless.

A 12 x 12 x 18 isn't enough room for an adult crestie, and I don't think it is even close. An 18 x 18 x 24 is quite marginal IME. I found that cresties (kept in pairs, but space use by a single isn't much different) seemed most comfortable with about 100 gallons of space. No, I'm not kidding -- they're big and active and are best provided with a choice of a couple decent hiding areas (they seem to like cork rounds a lot).

Having live plants in a crestie enclosure can be beneficial -- the plants add humidity, and if chosen appropriately can be good climbing structures (very sturdy vining plants that are tight on hardscape; ficus and bromeliads and others that are commonly used aren't all that great of choices). But as for attempting to process poop in the enclosure -- since cresties tolerate substrate replacements just fine, and since plants can be grown in pots, and since cresties don't reliably eat the microfauna, and since most "bioactive" enclosures aren't all that bioactive anyway -- there's really no reason to do more than provide a naturalistic enclosure that is designed for the specific space usage habits of the gecko.

Great choice of a pet lizard. I've never had one but have kept various other lizards in the past (incl. Tokays, a bearded dragon, night lizards, banded geckos, a leopard gecko, etc).

When folks come to my expo table looking for a first lizard, I'll often send them away to another vendor to look at cresties (I don't sell them). They're a great species, though one that's getting morphed out enough that people too often focus on them for what I think are not the right reasons.

Yours is really nice looking, and those face-licking photos are common enough but they get me every time. :)