Ok this is like my third post tonight. Just keep thinking about things. Ok 2 more questions. I was reading some old posts and I saw that some guy said that he doesnt think that any sand is good for a leopard gecko calcium or anything. I was just wondering why? Whats wrong with sand. I use sand and I just want to know because I don't want anything to happen. Ok my second question. I just asked about a black light and if it would be ok to use it with my geckos. Now if I was to use glow in the dark calcium sand with the black light would that be to bringht. I also saw that someone said that they dont like very bringht colors. So would there be anything wrong with using the glow in the dark with the blacklight??? would that make the sand too bright of a glow color(greenish) or would it be fine? I really want to know because I think that the glow with the blacklight in the cage would be really cool.
Thanks
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Matt Smith
0.2 Columbian Red Tails
0.0.2 Leopard Geckos (1 Albino)
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A couple more questions.(sand and glow sand with blacklight)
Replies (4)
Sand is considered bad by a lot of people because it can cause impaction. Is your leo an adult?...if it is small still, do NOT use sand...its much easier for a baby or juvie to get impacted than a full grown adult. If you use sand...I would recommend not using it in more than a third of the tank and feeding only mealworms in a dish (so it's not getting huge mouthfulls of sand when it tries to catch things...). Also...I would highly recommend NOT using calcium sand as it may actually encourage your leo to eat it. If you want something attractive try using slate pieces and filling in the spaces between the pieces with sand. It's much more natural than all sand, much safer, and looks very good.
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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.
Sand is not necesarily bad for leos, but if used improperly it can be FATAL. Sand when accidently ingested from your leo feeding or from not having enough vitmans/calcium can cause a blockage in the leos digestive system. Over time particles (food,substrate,dust,etc) will build up around the sand and cause an impaction, which can kill your leo. Calcium sand does one other thing to speed up the killing process. It acts as an acid reducer and makes the stomach acid closer to neutral so it can't digest its food. That makes even more stuff get caught in the stomach. Colored calcium sands bring up an EVEN bigger issue. The dyes in it are most likely poisonious. Especially the glow in the dark kind. I will give you some examples on how to use sand responsibly.
in both of these examples you MUST use washed fine grain playsand (not calci sand, not large grain, FINE grain).
1) you have tiles or slate covering a majoritiy of the tank bottom and in the cracks you put washed fine grain playsand.
2) you use compacted sand. Which is washed fine grain playsand that has water added to it and then compacted down to form a hard substrate.
When using sand (in any way, or kind) you CAN'T feed any foods that wont stay in a dish. That includes but is not limited to; crickets, superworms, silkworms, butterworms, or small roaches.
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0.1 "Tremper" looking Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 tiger crested gecko (peachs)
1.1 Feral cats that we adopted (Fuzzy, and Bear)
Question 1: If you gecko is not an aduld and some how gets sand in its mouth and swallows it. It can lead to impaction.
Question 2: I dont really know about using glow in the dark sand. I really wouldnt use it because it might stress the gecko out.
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n.p.
