Gargoyle geckos do best between 77-84°F, or 25-29°C. This happens to be right around room temperature in most homes, so it’s easy to keep your gecko comfortable.
Incorporating a temperature gradient (zones of cool, medium, and warm temps) is ideal. You can expect cooler temps to settle in the lower levels of the terrarium and warmer temps closer to the basking bulb.
The air temperature should never get higher than 86°F (30°C) or lower than than 65°F (18°C)! To make sure you don’t accidentally cook (or freeze) your gecko, experiment with terrarium temps before bringing it home.
Many people claim that it’s perfectly fine to keep a gargoyle gecko at room temperature without a heat source, but it’s important to remember that gargoyle geckos are ectotherms, which means that they can’t produce their own body heat and rely on natural heat sources (ie: sunlight) in their environment to help them regulate their metabolism and digest food. In my experience, the most common cause of lethargy, poor appetite, and illness in New Caledonian geckos is lack of access to a heat source.
That being said, a basking spot should only be implemented if it will not raise overall terrarium temperatures to dangerous levels. This means that providing a basking area may not be safe in enclosures that are too small to accommodate an appropriate thermal gradient.
The best heat source for a gargoyle gecko is a heat lamp. White or clear low-wattage incandescent/halogen bulbs work very nicely.
If you are using a small terrarium hood like the Zoo Med Naturalistic Terrarium Hood to house your lights, I recommend the Exo Terra Daytime Heat Lamp. The exact wattage you need will depend on enclosure size, design, room temperature, and other factors, but start with the 25w and go up or down from there depending on your needs.
If you are using a small 5.5″ dome lamp like Zoo Med’s for your heat bulb, then I recommend starting with the 25w Zoo Med Repti Basking Spot Lamp. Dome lamps are also compatible with dimmers, which can be a very handy feature for controlling the basking temperature in your gecko’s enclosure.
Keep tabs on your surface temperature gradient with a quality digital temp gun like the Etekcity Lasergrip 774. Just point the laser where you want it, and boom, instant temperature readings. Avoid ribbon/stick thermometers or gauge-type thermometers — they’re cheap, but they also don’t work. At all.
You can check air temperatures with a quality digital probe thermometer, like the Zoo Med Digital Thermometer and Hydrometer, with the temperature probe placed in the basking area.
Hatchling gargoyle geckos (under 13g) are often housed in small “grow-out” enclosures to keep track of their health during this vulnerable phase of life. If you have or are planning to get a hatchling gargoyle gecko, there are some special accommodations you will need to make in terms of UVB lighting and heating.
There is not enough room on top of a hatchling terrarium to accommodate a heat bulb. To make sure that your gecko still gets a supplementary heat source, stick a small heat pad to one side of the enclosure, and connect that heat pad to a proportional thermostat. Place the thermostat probe between the heat pad and the glass/plastic of the enclosure to make sure that the temperatures your gecko is exposed to don’t go higher than 85°F/29°C. Turn off the heat pad at night.
Specific products we recommend for hatchling heating:
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