Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been using perlite for a substrate for my baby leo ever since he hatched. (I did change it, of course) Nothing seems to be wrong with him. I've had him on it for about 3 months. Do you think there is anything wrong with it????

First of all, let me say, what an adorable hatchling! Now about substrate, once they start eating it's best to put them on something that they cannot ingest. Although the perlite is great for humidity a shed box with perlite will suffice. I would reccomend placing him/her on papertowels for now. A lot of others here recomend tiles which I think is a great idea, they are just difficult to find and cut. Papertowels or old newspaper. Whatever you do, DONT place him/her on sand! even calci-sand is lethal.

ummm...since the heck when are tiles difficult to find????... Ever heard of home depot, lowes, or mendards?...or any other home improvement store??...they all have TONS of tile. As far as cutting, regular tile can be cut by the store if it doesn't fit into the tank already (12" tiles fit perfectly in 20L's with a bit of a space at the end that can be used as a potty area filled with paper towels or smt). If they tiles don't fit and you don't want to get them cut you can just get vinyl tile, which can be cut with a good pair of scissors. Tiles hold heat very well, crickets and geckos can't get under them, they look good, and they are probably cheaper than paper towels in the long run since they cost less than $2 a piece and will last forever.
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Christina

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)

-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)

-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)

-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

ummmm. Since I live an hour from the nearest home depot, lowes, ect... Thats a good reason why tiles can be hard to find. Personally I will use paper towels forever, but I give as much info as possible in order to educate whomever is asking. I noticed tiles mentioned elswhere and put them in my answer. Come to think of it, I saw a post where they were using "cream of wheat" as substrate. Not known to cause impaction and relatively attractive. Just because it's what one uses, doesn't make it right for everyone.

well..I didn't even think of not being anywhere near a big home improvement store...lol I just recommend tile because comparatively..it is better than paper towels if you can get it. The fact that it holds heat and nothing can get under it is a huge, significant advantage over paper towels. I think cleaning is also easier because with paper towels you have to remove everything pretty much every day and remove the paper towels to put in clean ones. With tile you can just put some paper towels in a "potty area" and change that daily and wipe the area of tile with a damp paper towel. Of course you have to do more thorough cleanings sometimes...but that's still very easy as you can just remove the tiles to clean them. I honestly can't think of any advantages to using only paper towels over tile. I'm not trying to be close-minded or anything (I do have one thing with paper towels, its a rubbermaid things and tiles won't fit in it right), I just honestly believe that tiles are by far the best substrate if available if they can be used.
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Christina

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)

-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)

-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)

-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)

I see your point, I have seen cages with tiles and they looked awesome. I tend to get short on funds though and with our car being out of whack so I cant get to lexington to look for tiles. My biggest problem with paper towels is fit. I have rubbermaids set up double stacked with a hole and ramp in the top one. and the bottom i just fill with moss, but to cut paper towels to fit that top one is a pain. I think once I get my good enclosures I'll look into different options. I didn't mean to come off as defensive although reading back I did. LOL I'm so anal about substrate, it's a hot topic. Do you have pics of your setup? How much did you pay for tiles? One more thing, Have you ever heard of cream of wheat substrate? I think it was on fauna, but I'm not sure.. Interesting though...

I think someone on here uses wheateana...but I really don't know anything about that stuff. As far as my setup...I think I paid about $1.40 or smt close to that for 2 vinyl stone looking tiles. I dont' have any good pics right now, but I'll try to get some later today if the dogs aren't driving me too crazy...lol I'm puppy sitting my friends ~1 year old lab and have him hear with my ~1 1/2 year old mix.....lol right now they're behaving pretty well...but the two of them get REALLY rambunctious sometimes! lol Anyway, I have 2 12" tiles in my 20L and then the end will have paper towels for a potty area (right now there's brown construction paper there...but it needs to be changed and I don't have more...so paper towels it is...although I'll have to buy more first since there isn't a single one in the apartment...lol So anyway, I'll try to get some pics up later. Maybe if you got a chance to get tile you could get vinyl and cut it to shape...then you wouldn't have to cut paper towels every time you changed them...you'd just have to cut the tiles once...lol it might be a little tough to put them in a rubbermaid though...I didn't even try...but I probably will if I ever need to go to menards or something for some reason.
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Christina

2.3 leos
-0.1 tangerine het rainwater albino w/jungle background (Blinkers)

-0.2 jungles (Vahz & Skissor)

-1.0 tremper albino (Spitfire)

-1.0 tangerine rainwater albino (Bronx)