Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Someone on here posted a few days ago that leos don't naturally live on sand...which is incorrect; I just want to post some correct info about thier natural habitat. I found this on some website "Szczerbak and Golubev (1996) say that E. macularius lives...'on
clay-gravel soil covered by sand.'" The two people that said that I believe were researching the herps in an area. Sand is what they live on in the wild...however they primarily eat off rocks and in weeds where sand injestion is minimal...That's where the problem comes in in captivity...The geckos eat crickets resting on the sand, and therefore injest the sand practically every time they eat. That doesn't happen in the wild.

Thats good information....

So do you think that maybe a setup using sand and another "staged" feeding area that does not contain sand, but maybe a rock bed, in the tank, would be a more natural habitat/vivarium setup (especially for feeding)? I'd be willing to try something like that if were to decrease the chances of impaction. Obviously wouldn't work so well with crix, but with worms, you'd have a good shot.

I don't see why it wouldn't work as long as they don't eat on the sand. I'm no expert, that's just info I found online, but from what I found, I think it would make for a safe, eye pleasing, natural habitat for them! Maybe some people more experienced could their opinions on the subject.

for some 7-inch subadults. The primary substrate is slate, not enough heat was coming through from the UTH so I added a low wattage lamp which brought temps just where they need to be.

There is calcisand in the potty area which makes for easy cleanup, and they eat mealworms from a dish that's on the slate. At light I often see them out climbing around. The rock on the left doubles as a cool hide, I seen up to two geckos in there, usually only at night thouh there is one in there now as I was moving the shells around and she ran away to less disturbed ground for a moment. The three abalone shells are also hides, perched around a terra cotta moist hide filled with damp moss.

-----
Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

I have already been through an ordeal fixing my SHTCT male that I bought. He was kept on sand and I had him less than a week before he developed sand impaction. It has taken forever to heal and now he has an eye infection to boot. Newspaper is easy to clean, cheap (free), and safer. It may not look as nice but it is not worth the risk of impaction. I do think the above setup is a good idea, a small area of sand like that might reduce the risk.

According to what I read it's not just being on sand that causes impaction...otherwise there wouldn't be too many leos in the wild...lol It's eating sand, which happens when they eat on sand. So if you can keep them from eating on the sand (and make sure they get all the nutrients they need with mineral, vitamin, and calcium powder so they don't lick the sand for that), they should be able to be on as much sand as you like. That's what makes sense to me anyway from what I read...

I think it's what's described in the Leopard Gecko Manual which you should try to get a copy of if you haven't already. As great as it is to look up answers on the Internet, it's nice to have a hard copy reference.

Anyway, "clay-gravel soil covered by sand" doesn't sound like the 2-3" layers of sand that people put in their tanks. It's been found that leos naturally live in humid dens. Since I see how my leos burrow into peat moss to get the moisture level they're comfortable with--like when it gets too dry on the top or when it's freshly misted--and the fact that sand isn't the best at retaining moisture, I have to assume that the dens they live in are of the clay-gravel soil composition. So they're not living on the sand but under it. The sand is just a part of the geography.

If they lived on sand in the wild, it doesn't make sense that their babies would be so vulnerable to impactions. Fish don't drown in the ocean; they've evolved to thrive in that environment. So why wouldn't leopard geckos have evolved any kind of defenses for impaction? They don't lay thousands of eggs at a time and the babies make meals for other animals already, so it's not like they can afford to lose anymore to something like their physical habitat. My guess on the reason why they haven't evolved any way of dealing with impactions is that they don't live directly on the sand, and the babies (who are the most likely to suffer impactions) are safe inside their little natural humid dens. Based on observations of my own hatchlings, they just do better in humidity, and they spend most of their time hiding.

When you look at the anatomy of the leopard gecko, you can see how they would be able to live in the desert. They've got the fat tail to store fat and water. They've got eyelids to shield from wind blowing sand into their eyes. But I don't think they're very adept at travelling on sand. Their feet aren't designed to move speedily across sand; they look more like they're made for climbing rocks.

Obviously to get impacted a leo is going to have to ingest the sand. But sand ingestion doesn't just occur during feeding time. If sand gets in a leo's eyes, he's going to have to lick it off. If it gets stuck in his vents, he's going to have to lick that off too.
-----
chickabowwow

3.2.3 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)

80% of their enclosure is slate and rocks and shells. They are of appropriate size (around 7". They get mealies in dish. They have calcium in a dish and with their mealies.

I have kept full grown geckos on all calci-sand in the past and had no problems, but wanted to set up a non granular substare when I re-set up this tank. I don't think a sandbox for them to poop in is going to be a problem, given leo behaviors and their eating setup and size. However I am watching their poop to make sure they aren't ingesting it, not a grain of sand in it.
-----
Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos