Reptile & Amphibian Forums

At the moment, I'm making a 40 gal. breeder tank into a good terrarium for 3 Female Leos & 1 male Leo.(Will be breeding them)

I've been thinking about using pine chips or play sand...Because this tank is for looks. While my other geckos...(Blazing Blizards And hypo tangs... Etc) are in plastic large shoebox arrangments.

So what bedding would look good on my 40 gallon breeder tank...I was leaning towards play sand. Because I recently read a website that said to leave a Vitamin lid full of calcium(I know to have calcium dish) but they also said to add some play said for digestion and broken egg shells for more calcium. It says they use the play sand to better digest food. Can someone clear this for me? : Thanks!

Play Sand* not said LOL

Reptaguy,
Leos do not need sand to digest food.... Who ever gave you that info is very misinformed.... Infact, if they ingest toomuch sand it will cause health problems that can lead to death...

Pine chips are toxic to reptiles.... The oils and fumes can kill your leos...

I am a big believer in housing leos individualy.... It prevents alot of stress and you can closely monitor food intake... But if you want to house them together and make a natural display cage, your best bet will be to use natural flat slate pieces or slate tile for a substrate.... If you must use sand, it should be fine grain, washed play sand to fill in the cracks between the tile or natural slate pieces...

I like many others choose not to use sand at all because it can cause impaction which can lead to the early end of your pets life...

Anything loose can cause impaction. I've never heard of the eggshells thing... but you can spread salmonella with that, and it won't be good for your leos at all. No bark chips, no walnut shells, nothing loose. Some people have put adults on sand and haven't had impaction issues, but enough have that it is a raisk. Try tiles, they look great. Slate works well also. Repti-carpet is fine and comes in lots of colors.
They do need calcium both in a dish and dusted on the food items... some days use a vitamin supplement with D3. Make sure there are 3 hides, one on the cool side, one on the warm side (the side with the UTH - under tank heater)and a humid hide... you may already know all this, but I thought I'd add it just in case.

This is a link to a discussion about an enclosure I'm designing... once you are in the thread scroll down and there are photos of the early stages too.
Maybe it will give you some ideas on how to make it look natural without loose substrates.

New Enclosure