Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
I put paper towels in but im thinking about using sand it will consume more of the heat and it will stay in the heat..the paper towels get way to hot and are very thin..so what are your opinions.. nice desert look with sand and good heat, or burning paper towels that the heat passes right threw and leaves..and has a chance to catch on fire when im not home..hmmmmm???
Any response welcomed,
R.J.

I have sand in my tanks. You are about to be bombarded with impaction and so on and so forth things... so get ready. Again I think its a personal preference.. some folks will agree sand is okay, others will not. I do agree to go with some fine sand, like Bone Aid's Calci-sand or something similar.

Jeff

Well the leo's i am recieving are grown adults and i think they can handle sand. but i just wanted to here some opinions. i have used sand for my baby AFT's and never had an impaction. knock on wood. lets hope it stays that way. thanx, R.J.

Do you use an UTH, heat strip or some sort of lighting to heat up your cage? If you use an UTH or heat strip it's a good idea to connect it to a rheostat or a thermostat, this way you can control the temperature in the cage better and won't burn the paper towels. I use heat strips for all my Rubbermaid containers along with a light dimmer and a thermostat. All my geckos are on paper towels without problems. I like paper towels better myself than sand, for one it's much cheaper since I have many geckos and secondly it's easier to clean. But if you just have one or 2 cages and the gex are full-grown adults and you want a more natural looking vivarium then sand is okay. Do keep in mind there's always the risk of impaction even for adult gex.

lol......don't worry, no one is going to beat you into the ground if you choose to use sand. but i will give you my experience with it.
i bought my first leo, Beanie about a year and a half ago. i had her on the very fine grained repti-sand and it was working great for a bit. people on here told me not to use it but i had no problems and kept her on it. i was feeding her in a bowl and she had plenty of supplements so i thought there was a low to no chance of her getting impacted. well, i noticed her appetite was going down and that she had stopped pooping for a few days (even though she was eating a couple mealies every night). and i got worried so i gave her a warm soak and that night she pooped. it was FULL of sand. i moved her off that stuff right away and put her on paper towels. she was pooping sand out for days afterwards. i couldn't understand it...i had taken every precaution against impaction and it still happened. i was heartbroken that i had caused her that discomfort when i knew she could have been safer. she was sooooooo lucky.
i'm not going to tell you what to do, but i have learned my lesson...i value my leos' health over how pretty the tank looks.

cleo

Why would you put a fat-tail on sand, let alone a hatchling? They are not from the desert, but the forests of Africa. Doesn't make much sense to me.

AFTs like it a little more humid than leos, plus while keeping adults on sand is risky, keeping babies on it is downright dangerous.

Cleo

If your paper towels are in any danger of actually igniting it is your heater that is way too hot, not the paper towels. Such temps could kill your leos no matter what substrate they are on. Do you have a UTH?

Paper towels do not hold heat, but as a thin layer you gecko can stay plenty warm. You just need to adjust the heater properly.

Hey,
Yes i use a UTH. It is the cobr heat mat model. It is supposed to be a very hot mat. Im not really sure what i should do in terms of heating since i cant get to the store for a couple days and they will be here soon, Thanks, R.J.

Well as soon as you can go to the store purchase a rheostat to control the temp of your UTH. But for now, you could try multiple layers of paper towels or newspaper.
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Just Another Herp Crazy Person

0.3.0 Leopard Geckos - Lea, Cleo, Aurora [3 eggs cooking]
0.1.0 Bearded Dragon - Luna
0.0.1 Fire Skink - Blaze

Sorry, Did I say UTH? I meant to say you need a Rheostate/Thermostat...the thing that controls the temp of the heat mat. You need those when you use a UTH. Sorry for the confusion.

How long are the geckos? If they are over 6" you can use sand if you want, personally I find the cobra UTH's work better with a heat-diffusing substrate. Better would be rough terracotta tile or slate (okay for all ages/sizes of leos). You should be able to find unfinished tile at a home depot, I'd try that- no risk of impaction, like with sand.

I'm gonna try to check for some slate to put over the UTH... Just a layer of 1/2 inch thick slate should do the job?? or buy a bunch and work it out?? R.J.

1/2 inch sounds good, but you still need a rheostat/thermostat. Those Cobra mats are notorious for temps getting too hot and not being stable without a rheostat- they can get well over 100 degrees espec. if you have a heat-absorbing substrate. I mainly use human heat pads myself, these have a broad suraface area of heat and temp controls built in, most stay pretty stable in my experience. If you use these ever though be sure to put of a grate or something that allows airflow so heat doesn't build up.

i use paper towels and that doesn't happen....the sand will heat up and be very hot too....you NEED A RHEOSTAT OR THERMOSTAT. paper towels are much safer, cheaper, and are more practical when it comes to cleaning the tank. just go out and spend the extra 20 and get the rheostat.......the only thing sand has really going for it is that it looks nicer than alot of other substrate. it in no way conducts heat better than slate or some other safe substrates.

cleo
1:3 leos (Phoenix, Beanie, Pixie, Katrina)
2 eggs cooking

I got my four adults from my fiance's little brother, they have been on sand their entire life with no problems. I have two babies now, and I have decided to keep them on paper towels. It is really your preference. I have heard so many conflicting opinions on here, it is really hard to tell what to do. I think it really depends on your geckos. I don't feed my adults out of a bowl, I just let the crickets go in the tank. Like I said I havn't had any problems with impaction yet, i don't know if it is just luck however. Just thought I would give my opinion.
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Mommy of 6 Leopards
Milo(my male) Mongo, Raptor,and Spaz
My babies Popeye and Boo(named after Monster's Inc. Character)