Reptile & Amphibian Forums

anyone use it..

yay or nay?
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~Kayla
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1.0 Leo Gecko's *Astrid* - was told he was a her at first
0.0.1 Pictus Gecko *Raine* - too young to sex
1.1 Hollond Lop Bunnies *Panda, Oreo*

I've used it for incubation (right now), egg box substrate, and moist hide substrate. Don't really have any complaints about it either. So far I've never had any ill effects using various product forms of it (bed-a-beast, forestbed, etc) and I've been using it since 1998.

Chris

ok. well i've been using astro turf in my leo's tank, however i just built a enclosure for him and it's 3 inches deep, so to even see my leo running around i need some kind of substrate that is safe.. and i refuse to use sand/dirt.. so i was wondering if the coconut husk is safe. i know you can buy it in blocks and add water to make as much as you want.. so i was thinking of using that
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~Kayla
*********************
1.0 Leo Gecko's *Astrid* - was told he was a her at first
0.0.1 Pictus Gecko *Raine* - too young to sex
1.1 Hollond Lop Bunnies *Panda, Oreo*

I personally wouldn't recommend coconut bark...it is injestable...and could cause impaction. Also, if you feed crickets they can VERY easily hide in it and breed in it. I would imagine its also very difficult to keep clean and dry (if you get the blocks then you'll have to make sure to let it dry out REALLY well before you put your leos in there...). High humidity and leos is not a good combination.
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Christina

Leopard Gecko Morph Descriptions

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)

-ignorance is not to be punished when one is trying to gain knowledge...what scares me is the vast number of people who, when given the information to gain knowledge, choose to ignore it.

You should not use coconut husk for leopard geckos because it is ingestible and is meant to capture moisture for humidity. It is perfect to use in most humid hides, egg boxes, and even in incubators if replaced so it does not mold. I would not recommend coconut husk for leopard gecko tank set ups as a base substrate.

It seemed as if you are aiming for a substrate that isnt raised. The cheapest, safest, and flatest substrate you can get would be paper towels, or linoleum, or slate. All are easy to clean, and can't be eaten. Crickets cant reallyhide in them either. I would use paper towels, that are the easiers and best for me.

I've been told by many breeders coconut husk is fine if it is dried out.. I don't feed Crix often at all actually only mealies. I need something that will fill to about 2 inches deep because if I dont then I'm not going to be able to see my leo's at all.
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~Kayla
*********************
1.0 Leo Gecko's *Astrid* - was told he was a her at first
0.0.1 Pictus Gecko *Raine* - too young to sex
1.1 Hollond Lop Bunnies *Panda, Oreo*

maybe you could get river rocks and then place tiles on top of them? I did that at one point when I had sand at the end of my 20L to raise the tiles to the level of the sand.
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Christina

Leopard Gecko Morph Descriptions

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)

-ignorance is not to be punished when one is trying to gain knowledge...what scares me is the vast number of people who, when given the information to gain knowledge, choose to ignore it.

I have a feeling this will spawn huge debate, but I'm willing to take the gamble. This forum was established by the requests of myself and a few other "gecko forum" regulars, here at kingsnake.com back in 1999 I believe, that kept leos. Over the years, months, weeks, there have always been countless debates regarding substrates and which is best.

First I'll address Breathingbywires...

There's NOTHING wrong with using sand substrate. No one thing. Just so long as you use it in a safe manner. A sand or sandy soil substrate is naturalistic to leos. Their habitat is similar to that of some of our own eye-lid geckos here in the US; rocky with a sandy gravel based substrate. I've been keeping leos on a straight sand substrate since 1997 (got my first leo in Oct 96), when my first leo was old enough and large enough to be on it. I also feed strictly crickets. I've never had a problem with impaction. I have also kept my leos on a straight bed-a-beast substrate with no problems.

Now to address StinaUIUC some, but this also can apply to you Breathingbywires. With the above paragraph in mind, leopard geckos and most other eye-lid geckos are fossorial by nature. Meaning they live under rocks or in borrows underground. In the case of our native banded gecko species, one can usually and extremely easily find them under flat surface rocks 1-2 days after a good rainstorm. When they are not "surface" active (under rocks at least) they are generally in borrows where the relative humidity could be as high as 100%! Leopard geckos fill this same niche within their native lands. So, no, high humidity plus leopard geckos is not necessarily bad.

And as for InsideOutsider13 comment, "You should not use coconut husk for leopard geckos because it is ingestible and is meant to capture moisture for humidity." Young leopard geckos need a cage with higher moisture levels. Their skin is much thinner and they are much smaller than their adult counterparts. Thus making dehydration a very serious concern for such a small animal, regardless if they are a desert/semi-arid species that is adapted to this.

I like StinaUIUC's quote, "-ignorance is not to be punished when one is trying to gain knowledge...what scares me is the vast number of people who, when given the information to gain knowledge, choose to ignore it." The only concrete 100% best way to keep animals is the way Mother Nature does. All we try to do by keeping animals is either replicate their native environments as closely as possible or come up with "lazy" alternatives to housing them (newspaper, paper towel, linoleum, or slate substrate). It's not a matter of ignoring the information given, but rather not gathering enough varied, reliable sources of information, reading them, and digesting them, and then manipulating them to a means that works for you and the animal (the animal more so). That's what I had to do before I got my first leo in 1996. All there was on them back then was REPTILES magazine, and a few misleading or misinformed books. There was no leopard gecko manual (at least not until 1998). Everyone should be so fortunate to have the internet now and to have every an all caresheets on leoaprd geckos or other animals available at their fingertips. Many of us older keepers (not going to use old-time keepers since I'm only 22, but I have been keeping reptiles and amphibians since I can remember) could only have been so fortunate. What you see now in books is the hard work of years and decades of dedicated animal lovers and breeders sharing what works for them, a few friends, or other peers whom shared their experiences. And just because someone reads a book, keeps X amount of animals, or writes a book, doesn't necessarily make them and almighty expert.

Chris

Best post I've read on this forum in quite awhile actually.
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Peace-
Kelli Hammack
H.I.S.S.
email me

good to see you poke your head back in here chris!

>>Best post I've read on this forum in quite awhile actually.
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>>Peace-
>>Kelli Hammack
>>H.I.S.S.
>>email me
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Bill DiFabio
Garden State Herpetoculture...website to follow...
Email Me
"The pendulum of the mind alternates between sense and nonsense,
not between right and wrong." - Carl Jung

I try to stay out of these sand coversations but like I pointed out once before, according to the leopard gecko manual, leos come from areas that have a lot of sand. When I pointed out that the book said that, I got jumped on...by the same people who tell everyone else to read that very same book!! LOL!

I have used the walnut shell Lizzard Litter, the alfalfa pellet stuff that's also called Lizard Litter and paper towels personally. I and my leos seem to be happiest with the alfafla pellets; they can root around and dig and my piece of mind is at ease. The only thing that one of my leos has become impacted with was a piece of moss from the moist hide. !!!

I'd like this forum a lot more if more people took on a less forceful approach, if they told people what they would do but clearly recognized that people should do what is right for them. In this room, it's "sand" and in the venomous forum it's "venomoids." It would be nice if certain topics weren't made into giant issues. Can't we all get along? LOL!

that at 22 years old, Chris makes his point well. Thought I was gonna argue with you didn't you! I agree with your post. I used to be a die hard calci - sand person...then a well spoken person, as yourself, pointed out these guys LIVE on sand in the "real world"! I never have had any impaction problems on any substrate. I bought my first leo about the same time as you did. I do keep hatchlings on paper towels, but the adults get play sand. And I also feed crickets as a staple along with the occassional waxworm, mealworm, silkworm. The cage below is the newest I built & yep that's sand in there! I haven't finished the decorating yet. These ladies love to pile it up & sleep on it, they dig & kick it everywhere! I say nice job Chris!!

Great post! and I agree, nothing wrong with sand!
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Josh
My Email

np
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The following sentence is true.
The above sentence is false.

4.4 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Marbled Gecko
1.1 Red Eared Sliders
0.2 Siamese Mice

I think he means there's a "base" around the bottom that hides 3" of the tank.
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Christina

Leopard Gecko Morph Descriptions

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)

-ignorance is not to be punished when one is trying to gain knowledge...what scares me is the vast number of people who, when given the information to gain knowledge, choose to ignore it.

n/p
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Christina

Leopard Gecko Morph Descriptions

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)

-ignorance is not to be punished when one is trying to gain knowledge...what scares me is the vast number of people who, when given the information to gain knowledge, choose to ignore it.

yup there is a base that hides 3 inches almost of the bottom so i need a substrate that will level that out
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~Kayla
*********************
1.0 Leo Gecko's *Astrid* - was told he was a her at first
0.0.1 Pictus Gecko *Raine* - too young to sex
1.1 Hollond Lop Bunnies *Panda, Oreo*

well how about putting the enclosure a little lower to the ground so you can see down into it?
if you made it out of wood, how about cutting a piece of plywood to fit the floor and sit it on some 2 inch blocks?

I got nothin
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The following sentence is true.
The above sentence is false.

4.4 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Marbled Gecko
1.1 Red Eared Sliders
0.2 Siamese Mice

I try coconut bark for a substrate, for 20 minute, my gecko try to eat a crix and get a mouth full ot it ! So we get it out asap !!! For the humid hide, its great but not as a substrate.
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Mizar 21
1.0 Collared lizard (Ganymede)
1.0 Leopard Gecko (Gethsemani)
1.0 Nerodia Fasciata (Serpentard)
1.2 Cats

Yes, but not for leos. I've used it in humid rainforest tanks. It'd be too dusty for leos.