Lighting for crested and gargoyle geckos

Getting heating and UV lighting right is genuinely the single most important factor in reptile health — the majority of common reptile illnesses, from metabolic bone disease to respiratory infections, trace back to incorrect temperatures or inadequate lighting. So it's worth getting this exactly right. You've got two nocturnal species here — crested gecko and gargoyle gecko — which puts you in a specific category: they both need very low-level UV and minimal heat addition, not the high-output basking setups that daytime species require. Can you tell me what enclosure sizes you're working with, whether they're housed separately, and what lighting if anything you currently have running on each?

That's a really sensible setup and your instincts are right — 20-22°C ambient is spot on for both species, so you don't need any heat contribution from the lighting whatsoever. The risk with most UV bulbs is that they throw out warmth that pushes cresteds and gargoyles above their comfort zone, and both species are prone to stress and appetite loss if temperatures creep up. What you actually need is a low-intensity UV-B source that provides a gentle UV index — around UVI 0.3 to 1 — without raising temperatures. Are you looking to replace the LED strips entirely, or add a UV strip alongside them?

Perfect — that's exactly what the Arcadia ShadeDweller ProT5 is designed for. It's a low-output T5 fluorescent strip specifically built for shade-dwelling and nocturnal species like yours. It produces a UVI of around 0.3 to 0.8 at close range, which is precisely the Ferguson Zone 1 level that crested and gargoyle geckos benefit from without being overwhelmed by. Critically, it generates virtually no heat — your ambient temperatures won't shift. It comes in a 7W version for smaller vivariums and a 14W version for larger ones, so you'd use the 7W on the gargoyle's 30cm enclosure and the 14W on the crested's 45cm enclosure. Both fit inside Exo Terra and similar mesh-top vivariums. The light output is also a soft, warm tone that doesn't disturb nocturnal behaviour — your geckos won't be hiding from it during active hours. It's genuinely the standard recommendation for this exact pairing of species.

It plugs straight in — no controller needed. The ShadeDweller ProT5 comes with its own integrated controller unit built into the fitting, so there's no separate ballast to buy. I would strongly recommend putting both on a simple plug-in timer though. A 12-hour on, 12-hour off cycle mimics natural day length and helps regulate their circadian rhythms, which matters more than people realise for long-term health and breeding condition. A basic mechanical timer from any hardware store works perfectly — you don't need anything smart or expensive. Just set lights on at 7am, off at 7pm, and leave it. That's genuinely all you need for both enclosures.

Great choice — you'll notice a difference in how settled both geckos seem once they have a proper light cycle running. If you ever want to revisit the setup as they get older or if you're thinking about breeding either species down the line, come back and we can talk through any adjustments. Good luck with them both.