Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I mean... they eat the sand while hunting for the crickets, right? so if you just have mealies in a bowl for them, won't they no eat sand too often, at least not often enough to get impacted? and every once and a while feed with crickets. Would that be ok?
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Kev
1.1.0 Tang Leopard Geckos: Marley, MaryJane
1.0.0 Normal Leopard Gecko: Toad
0.1.0 Colombian Rainbow Boa: Rambo

You will get many different opinions on this question. Sand is okay if your leos are monitored very closely and watched. No feeding should be done on the substrate, whether its crix or mealies. That will help reduce the chance of sand ingestion.

IMO
Jeff

I have had my leopard gecko on sand for 5 years with no problem. She never ate sand anyways, but I only feed mealworms in a bowl so that might be the reason. I offer food to my leo every night and it seems if they are always full and supplemented then they have no motive to eat sand. *This is just what I have experianced.
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3 dogs,1 cat, and 1 leopard gecko ...**TARZANA**

They get sand while lunging for crickets, but they also just lick it up when they are not hunting. I never fed my leos crickets when they were on sand and they still got impacted, and yes I did supplement them. I don't get what everyones fascination with sand is, it is a horrible substrate and slate/rocks look so much better and are safer.
Adam
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People automatically think "desert" and then "sand". What they fail to realize is that many deserts don't even have sand.. There are subarctic deserts with just rocky tundra... there are scorching deserts with nothing but rocks, gravel and small patches of dry vegetation. So when they say leopard geckos are a "desert species" everyone automatically thinks.. "Oh.. they live on sand.. that'll be cool looking" when in reality leopard geckos live on rocky outcroppings and loose skree. Where they live is probably high in limestone... (Good source of Calcium carbonate... or is Calcium Bicarbonate? I always get confused on that one) so they're licking actually chunks of rock and picking up calcium from that....Sand is foreign to them.

I think you are right about the limestone, either that or they just inspect things with their tounge. Because when I have my leo out whenever she walks over to a wall or pillow she will lick it. But yea I agree with what you said!
Adam
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actually I think sand I think loose, easy to clean.... these little guys poop and if they do it on a pourous surface it generally leaves a stain on the surface that you just scraped it off of. THAT'S why I was thinking sand, not because of "the desert". [bleep] people aren't all iddiots. Just because you thought that at one point doesn't mean that everyone else does.
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Kev
1.1.0 Tang Leopard Geckos: Marley, MaryJane
1.0.0 Normal Leopard Gecko: Toad
0.1.0 Colombian Rainbow Boa: Rambo

Seems what you are thinking about is you, and how much work you have to do (like how easy to clean things are). Well, think about this: if you do use sand and it gets impacted then it could cost alot to have a surgery done at the vet. Did you read the link I put in one of my posts, I thought it was really informative.
Adam

>>actually I think sand I think loose, easy to clean.... these little guys poop and if they do it on a pourous surface it generally leaves a stain on the surface that you just scraped it off of. THAT'S why I was thinking sand, not because of "the desert". [bleep] people aren't all iddiots. Just because you thought that at one point doesn't mean that everyone else does.
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>>Kev
>>1.1.0 Tang Leopard Geckos: Marley, MaryJane
>>1.0.0 Normal Leopard Gecko: Toad
>>0.1.0 Colombian Rainbow Boa: Rambo
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My pic gallery

Many breeders use sand for years and never have a problem. In fact I believe Kelli (Hisss.com) and Monte (Powergeckos.com) used to use sand for a number of years before switching to newspaper/papertowels.

I believe when your housing your reptile for display purposes or for your personal enjoyment, it should be stimulating for not only your pet but you as well. You should have their cage be most like their natural enviorment as possible, and strait plain slate or plain sand is far from what its like in the wild. I have made my own desert vivarium for Side-Blotched Lizards, a local desert lizard. The deserts, from what I hear, closly resemble those of the Leopard Geckos, a rocky/sandy outcrop with sparse vegitation. Here are some pictures.

This is the entire cage.

Heres a shot of the lizards and their basking area. I decided to use old narled wood, from the desert actually. I also used various sizes of rocks and mixed the smaller rocks into the sand/bed-a-beast mix so that there wasn't just fine sand, it more closely resembles the sand in the desert. I also used various sizes of bark, also from outside. The use of debri, narled wood, rocks, and bard makes the cage looked "weatherd". Another thing, right after I was done with the cage, there was a "thunderstorm" and I gave it a pretty good watering, however I will only do this maby every few months. This gave the subtrate a crust that allowed the lizards to dig their own burrows, and not that loose sand look.

Heres a top view of the cage. I used a rock with an impression in it and used that as a waterbowl, I my opinion it looks so much better then the rock water bowls they sell.

This is a shot of the cave that I made by simply burying a hide. I also used a piece of bark that is put across the cage and over the cave entrence and give it a sort of hidden look-its not just out there.

This kind of use of sand in my opinion is much better then the use of just plain sand or slate. It is much more stimulating for my lizards and I enjoy watching them explore their cage. It is much more pleasing to the eye because it looks as if I took a piece of the desert and put it in the cage.
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Bradley Baquial

Thats the difference though. You took the time to figure out a way to at least somewhat safely incorporate it into your cage design... Most people don't do that.. they just think.. "Oh.. Sand.. that'll look good" throw the leo on it and have no regard for the possible consequences of their actions. For me, the very possible risk that exists is enough to sway me away from sand....I do plan, later down the road when I add to my breeding colony to set up a 55 gallon breeder tank for them in a naturalistic type setting...without the use of sand... but loose rock and slate.. cave formations and possibly a small circulating pool in a rock basic... small enough it won't put the humidity too high, but enough that they can get in and out of it easily.

basic=basin... I haven't slept in... 30 hrs now.. *laughs* I stopped here before going.. so don't mind the typing or possible incoherence.

Thats why I said slate/rocks, I never said you should just use slate. If you use lots of types of rocks then it will look very nice. And those breeders may have used sand without problems but there are many more who have problems with it or don't even use it at all. And I find it interesting that they switched to paper towels afterward! You said that you believe that you should have the tank as natural as possible, then don't use sand! They don't live on it! How many times do I have to say this on the forum. They live on, and I quote from someone who has observed then in the wild: "It inhabits rocky stony terrain, mudflats with sparse grass and bushes, in mesic to xeric conditions." No mention of sand at all! I e-mailed this person to send me some pictures of the habitat so this argument can finally be put to rest.
Adam

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Here is a thread on another site that deals wih this same issue. Pay particular attention to what "eyespy" writes.

http://s snakes s.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21570&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

Just remove the blanks between the four "s", the website gets bleeped out, weird

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That guy makes some very good points.... and seems to know a great deal what he's talking about.. hence why I never keep my animals on sand. I had thought about trying it once.. but.. I never did... the risk was just too much in my mind.

I use sand...haven't had a problem. Sand IMO is easy to keep clean with low maintenance. It's far less maintenance than a cat with a litter box.

But, then again I monitor my geckos for any problems. They have never had a bowel problem and I can set my calendar to their drop days. Let me also add that I don't have the years of experience that some others here have...so take my sand advice with a grain of salt

Cinman