How to keep reptiles warm during winter [5 Easy Ways]

This article will discuss ways to keep your reptiles warm this winter. Since I live in an apartment, it can be a little challenging, and I do need to make alterations to the reptile room. Since we must keep our reptiles warm over the winter, hopefully, this will assist anyone who faces similar challenges. Sometimes heat pads or bulbs are simply insufficient, especially at night. So, in this article, I’ll cover several pointers and tricks.

I keep my reptiles in a room that is essentially a small side room or closet in my flat, which is in a very old structure. I’m not really sure what this room is meant to be; all I know is that I converted it into a reptile room.

I also know that there is a noticeable draught coming in from the windows and I can also feel like from the floors. It gets really chilly here, especially in the winter.

Therefore, the only thing I’ve been able to do in addition to turning up the heat is to install a space heater in the reptile room.

5 Easy ways to keep reptiles warm during winter

1. Use space heaters to keep reptiles warm during winter

Space heaters are excellent for raising the ambient temperature throughout the entire room. It’s something that I believe is fantastic for reptiles because frequently, people mail me with crested geckos or gargoyle geckos, who obviously don’t need heat.

Many people want to add heat bulbs for their crested geckos, but it is not something I would advise doing since when it gets too cold you need to supplement in some way and they aren’t really sure how to do it. Because it can be too much for your crested gecko.

They can’t overheat very readily, so you don’t want to stress them out or overheat them. Therefore, in a case like that, I would always advise just raising the room’s ambient temperature, which you can do with a space heater.

So many people have asked me what type of space heater to use, but I don’t really know anything about them.

I believe you should get one that is connected to a thermostat in some way, or you can control it on your space heater as well, and make sure that it stays at a certain temperature and that it doesn’t exceed that temperature to ensure that it’s safe for all of your animals. This is especially true if you won’t be home all day monitoring it to make sure that there isn’t a fire hazard or anything.

I’m not an expert on space heaters, so I don’t really understand how they operate. Since I’m always at home, I keep an eye on things on my own by simply checking in on things when I’m with my animals. So, that is how I make it function.

Therefore, if you don’t always have access to a space heater to raise the temperature in your home, I strongly advise that you look for one that will be safe for your animals. This is especially important if you plan to leave your house while it is still warm and leave the space heater on.

The majority of the time, I won’t need to use this space heater during the day; instead, I will need to use it at night while I sleep because that’s when the reptile room tends to get really chilly.

So that’s something I would advise doing if you notice a very dramatic drop in the temperature at night in your home because you always need to make sure that you’re not only reaching those hot spots for your animals, but you’re also not going below what they can handle either, because you don’t want to freeze your animals to death.

This is something you should always be on the lookout for, especially in the winter because such drops do happen because even a slight drop for an extended period of time can make your animals sick.

Another method people frequently try with crested geckos is to attach a heating pad to the tank’s side.

Even if you have a thermostat, I still wouldn’t suggest doing that since, in my opinion, the temperature could rise too much if your crested gecko is simply lying on the spot where the heating pad is. This could cause them to overheat.

Therefore, that is just something I would never attempt, especially for an animal of that kind. Instead, you should always raise the ambient temperature.

Also, read How to heat leopard gecko tank [Detailed Guide].

2. Remove cool hide, if the temp is low to keep your reptiles warm during winter

Another thing that I might need to do is due to the draught that comes in and the fact that my pet reptile is really picky and always prefers to be on the cold side of the enclosure. It has zero interest in using the hot side.

My reptile has a lovely hot hide, and what I actually do is I have to take away my reptile’s cold hide throughout the winter and force her to go into the warm hide because if I don’t she might end up becoming sick, especially with that draught.

Because of the cold window, the cool side of her enclosure becomes way too cold even though her temperature is fine on the hot side, so you might want to try something else. Thus, simply raising the ambient temperature might not be sufficient.

3. Add a heating pad for a proper cool temperature

I may therefore need to get a second heating pad, place it on her cool side, and adjust the setting so that it is still warm enough for her.

Just to make sure it doesn’t get too cold for her either because that’s something I’ve had a problem with, but I get really anxious for her because her enclosure is right close to the window and it gets extremely chilly.

4. Add a heating pad to the coolest side of the enclosure

Because I don’t want my reptile pet to get sick, I may just have to add another heat pad to the enclosure or place a heating pad over on that side in addition to utilizing the space heater in the room to ensure that she receives the proper temperatures.

These are just a few of the advice and techniques I have and will be employing for my own pets in the reptile room. Many of you send me messages mentioning that you have cooler rooms in your home where your reptiles are kept, therefore of course you need to keep an eye on it. With any luck, these pointers might assist you guys out and keep your pets warm and safe this winter.

It is challenging to deal with, and I can say without a doubt that this is not my favorite season. Remembering that these are our animals, we must ensure that they receive the appropriate temperatures.

5. Use a temp gun

I would strongly advise getting a temperature gun if you aren’t sure of the temperature and are merely checking the thermostat. You can purchase them on Amazon for a very little price, and with just that you will be able to determine the precise temperature of your animal’s enclosure.

This is crucial since you must ensure that the cooling side of the heating pad doesn’t become overly chilly in addition to ensuring the heating pad is at the right temperature. Because occasionally people merely check the hot spot and fail to maintain the right temperatures over the entire cage, this is a problem.

I don’t know if I have any additional advice because this is all I’ve done so far for my animals, but hopefully, this was still useful.

I really appreciate it when you guys leave your input because it always is very helpful and you guys always think of things that I don’t, so I really appreciate it when you guys leave the comments helping everyone out.

So if any of you guys have any additional tips and tricks to add to keep your reptiles nice and warm this winter especially if there is a significant drop in your reptile room please go ahead and leave it in a comment and help everyone out. Thank you guys so much for reading. I hope that this article was helpful.

Also, read How to use a Solarmeter 6.5 for reptiles [Easy Guide].