Reptile & Amphibian Forums

for my females to lay eggs in? also is it cool to use vermiculite in humid hide all year round?.........thanks for your time&help.............duane

I tried vermiculite for laybozes, but saw pi4ces of it in feces and switched back to moss. Am told they don't actually eat the vermiculite on purpose but lick the sides of hide for moisture and end up ingesting the vermiculite. Never had any problems with moss ingestion, though sometimes gecko lay eggs under it and it takes some work to seperate egg from laybox surface. Haven't lost an egg due to this yet to my knowledge, but even if I did, would rather lose a few eggs than risk heath of gecko.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

I've got one patternless female who literally stuffed herself with vermiculite I even saw her eating the dry stuff that had gotten kicked out of the hide after I switched it over to bed-a-beast. I cleaned the whole tank and was pretty worried about her. After a few golden nuggets she was fine, but I consider it a close call.

I have a male that ate the green fluker moss. I'm not sure if he'd eat regular moss or if there was something in the dye that attracted him to it. He seemed to have trouble passing it, so I don't want to risk a repeat.

So far bed-a-beast and eco-earth are the only substrates no one's decided to take a liking too (I've used them siccessfully for the last 5 years). I think I've heard of impactions from these, however, so I monitor their bathroom corner and their health carefully.

-Alice

or compressed spagnum mos.. i like the whole fiber stuff better but its hard to find in large packages.... i have never used bed a beast but i have heard of some using it... you only want to use the vermiculite to incubated your eggs in,not as a nesting/lay box/humid hide.
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-robin struck
Geckoheads And Geeks

I used to find it in small and very expensive bags at a petshop that works with reptiles and birds, but then I found the following at home depot- a nice big bag (410 Cu. In.)of

Hiawatha Green Moss
"Use for in hanging baskets, terrariums, more"
"Collected from Pacific Northwest rain forests"

undyed, whole fiber- nice big natural clumps.

Works well for me for moist hides and layboxes, the whole big bag was cheap, around $5 or so. My geckos don't eat it. Find in the garden section of Home Depot.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

and it only caries the small bags of it and then the compressed mukched up bricks of it... hmmmm maybe ill send russ down to see if the home depot by his work (in another town) has it.. good deal thanks
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-robin struck
Geckoheads And Geeks

Occaisionally gardners who use it will contract a severe fungal infect. Here's a link for more info: http://www.astdhpphe.org/infect/sporotric.html

I'm not sure if leos can contract it, but it's better safe than sorry. The fungus enters through breaks in the skin, and egg laying can be somewhat traumatic. But, if you bake it at 250 for an hour, the spores should be inactivated.

-Alice

I have not been baking it and have never had any problems with it myself or in my geckos, but I will do that in the future, just in case, for my own safety as well as my gex.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

Was eco-earth. It's a block of shredded coconut (not Bed-a-beast, but it looks like it. I saw one of my females try and take a bite out of it and she was disgusted by the taste.

My females love to dig in it when they lay their eggs. And it keeps moisture pretty well.

It still is a particle bedding tho...so caution should be used to avoid impaction. Vermiculite has been known to cause impactions in some leos. I've heard of some people using the little bags that fish filters use to hold charcoal in to hold moist vermiculite, but the gecko's toes night get caught in the fiber. Just some food for thought =3