Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, so we all know that leos can get impacted bowels from just about anything, but what about compressed cococnut fibre? Has anyone used the stuff and is it any good or totally red-flagged?

I wouldn't reccommend using cocconut fibre for leos. When wet it will produce too much humidity for a leo. If dry it is very dusty and will get everywhere, and can easily be injested. Though leos come environment does include alot of sand, packed sand is most likely what it is, instead of deep loose sand. Packed sand isn't as easy to work with in the home environment, as you will need to find dirt that has a some amount of clay content so when wet it packs down, then you let it dry.

Best thing to go with is paper towel, newsprint or non stick shelf liner. May not look completely natural but deffinitely much safer in the long run.

Thanks for the info! I was just wondering about heat if you're using paper towel. Can you still heat under the tank, or is it too warm? FYI, I inherited this leo about a year ago when one of my students decided it was too much work, so now we keep it at school. She (the gecko)has lived for five years with an undertank heater and basking lamp with "lizard litter"(crushed walnut shell)substrate. But I am always open to newer and better ways to keep our pets healthy!

There shouldn't be any problems with the undertank heater and papertowel. I use human heating pads with all my snakes, and they are in plastic containers with papertowel inside. As the human heating pads have variable settings, I don't put them on high, keeping them on low or medium. I also have them set up on timers so the heating pads are not on all the time, I leave them on for about 4-6 hours, then off for about 4 hours and on again for 4-6 hours. As the reptile undertank heaters can short out or overheat, may be an ideal to have them on a thermostate or reostate to shut them off if they get to a certain temperature in the cage.