Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i see everywhere thqat people are keeping their leos on sand. their natural environment is on compacted clay and rocks in some western arid countries. they rarely some into contact with sand. so people should stop using sand as substrate

np

I live in a semi-arid to arid grassland region, and while loose sand isn't the usual here, the soil is sandy and rocky. It is compacted in some areas, but not in others. I would have to disgree with your generalization on that basis. Unless you know the exact soil composition of the area where leopard geckos are endemic, I have to assume it's similar to the conditions where I live.
You find grasses, sagebrush, and cacti, and large rocks, with sandy soil, interspersed with patches of bare ground where vegetation has died off or not taken root. These are not always compacted.

If you wanted to duplicate this environment, mix sand and soil together, tamp it down slightly, and let it dry. Throw in a clump of dead grass, and some coarse rocks. <G>

I agree with you. I know I'm not the BIGGEST leopard gecko expert but I would think leopard geckos would much rather be on sand then paper towels or nothing but rocks its whole life. My male constantly gets his claws stuck in the paper towel in his moist hide during shedding and I feel so bad for him because by the time hes done shedding the paper towels are everywhere because he couldn't get his feet free. And I currently have my leo on sand, I tried with paper towel but he was always digging at them and other problems, but once I switched him to sand you could tell there was a change in his attitude b/c he got to dig deeper in his setup and could get more heat on his belly, etc. Also, I know impaction happens a lot but I know and I watch when my leo misses a cricket or anything else and he gets a mouthfull of sand he shakes it pretty much completely out and has never had a problem.

But of course everyone has their own opinion and this is just mine. But I do agree that you shouldn't put your gecko on sand until it is a certain age and length. That I DO agree with. Just go with your instinct I always say if you think leos shouldn't be kept on sand, great, same thing with if you do think they should be kept on sand. It doesn't really matter
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*~*JeNnA*~*

I dont keep my leo on sand, i keep her on reptile carpet. I know the risks and am just not willing to take those risks. If you do, good 4 you, just know what can and does happen.

Huh? They'd much "rather" be on sand than paper towels? I don't know if you're the Pet Psychic or not, but how do you know what your geckos like? Have you ever looked at their feet? Definitely not designed to walk on loose sand, but climb and dig in arid rocky regions of the middle east. And also, how is digging up the paper towels a "problem"?

I think it definitely DOES matter what substrate you use. Unless of course the health of your animal is of no concern to you. If you know impaction happens alot, then you have no excuse to put your animal at that risk. And if you bowl feed, ingestion that way isn't the problem. Its when leos lick everything that the problem arises. And unless you are using an absurd amount of paper towels, your gecko should be able to get CLOSER to the heat source than if there was a layer of sand in the cage.

Easy guys dont bite my head off...In the beginning of my post I said I wasn't an expert on geckos and I SAID it was only my opinion. So if you have the right to put ur 2 sense into something that I liked to talk about and people get mad over something so little maybe you should just stop reading my posts, because I know I sure wouldn't mind if u did. but whatever IT DOESN'T MATTER. Oh wait let me put that in qoutes... "IT DOESN'T MATTER".

If you want to get all natural, then why dont you take the four sides that you got surrounding your gecko away. There is no way that you are going to duplicate the way leos live in the wild, so adding some sand wont hurt. Heck, they never knew that in the wild they would be living on rocks and clay. I dont use sand, but the excuse you use isnt a good one at all, because we give our pets many other boundaries that they wouldnt have in the wild. A better excuse is that they might get impacted from it, which rarely happens if your leo is large enough to be on sand, and it isnt too large grains of sand.
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Josh
My Email

with no problems. Have you had a different experience using sand with your geckos? I keep all of my leopard geckos on paper towel these days but only because I have more geckos now and it makes it easier and quicker to clean cages.
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Peace-
Kelli Hammack
H.I.S.S.
email me

I had my adults on fine grade sand and my male got an impaction. it caused a rectal prolapse and caused permanent damage. Now when ever the poor boy poops his but falls out. pathetic isn't it. Oh but don't worry, i keep his enclsure clean and the vet taught me hoe to fix it. Its really not that bad any more, but you should have seen it four months ago, yikes. He had to get stickes twice. ouch in his butt!.

Ed