Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all I just have a quick question that I was wondering about and see what your guys feed back is on this. I am mostly large snake keeper but have kept a leopard gecko as well as many other herps over the years. I was sitting around the other day thinking of how cool it would be if I built a desert viv for my leo. Mine has always lived on paper towels since it was a baby.

Now I know that leos under 6 months old do risk compaction of the sand but have not heard of any problems for adults. Has anyone experienced problems with keeping their adult leos in sand. I would like to make the viv but if it risks harming my leo I'm more happy with the paper towels.

Thanks to all that respond.

JASON

I know im gunna probably get my head bit off but i think sand is fine for an adult leo i use it with all of mine but i have it only on the warm side of the tank so its like half and half.
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But thats just my 3 cents Email

I know there has been many debates on the Sand topic, but my personal experience wasn't good with sand. My 3 year old leo just died this past Sunday of impaction. She was on sand. So my suggestion would be not to do it. We have 12 leos and 2 coming to us on the 13th and none of them are any longer on sand. We now have our either on paper towel or tiles. Here's a picture of my leo that I lost...she's the "normal".

SO DON'T BE AN IDIOT!...whoever thinks it doesn't happen...IT HAPPENS...AND IF U THINK UR SAFE...u are an ignorant bastard...and don't even think that "just because hes an adult" that he/shes not gonna get impacted...cuz it happens...thanks for sharin spikensquirt!! hows ur little doing ?
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"you won't know success if you haven't failed..."-eric chen
1.1.1 Hi-Yellow Leopard Geckoes
0.0.2 Blizzards
0.1.0 Western (Plains) Hognose Snake
0.1 Boxer Dog

My little one is doing fine, although she did talk me into getting "her" a new Leo. I took her and let her pick the one she wanted and she picked a Tang. So now we have 4 of them. She hasn't picked a name out yet though. We are still expecting our giants from Ron Tremper on the 13th. So that should make her happy. Thanks for asking. Take care.

I also read spikensquirt's post awhile back...he stated he used the "digestable calcium sand" in his post. He also didn't mention if he kept a container of calcium in the cage for his geckos. Leos will eat sand to get their calcium needs met! Even if the sand doesn't have calcium in it. That is why most keepers leave calcium in a dish available at all times. There have also been many posts on this topic with many differing opinions.

Every single on of geckos have a calcium dish in their cages at all times. So they always have what they need supplied.

n/p

HEHE...ur little one certainly picks the best...wow...tang for her first gecko...my first was a very dark spotted.."wild type"..hehe..but hey..the original wild types are hard to find now....the designers have taken over....my favorite morph is still the blizzy..they have BEAUTIFUL eyes...then its probably the hypos and tangs...and albinos...etc....
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"you won't know success if you haven't failed..."-eric chen
1.1.1 Hi-Yellow Leopard Geckoes
0.0.2 Blizzards
0.1.0 Western (Plains) Hognose Snake
0.1 Boxer Dog

Actually Eric, I still disagree about not keeping leos on sand. I have kept leos for almost 9 years on various substrates. I used to use the calci-sand (I hate how dusty it gets!) & I currently use play sand with all of my adults (all 21 of them). I keep the juvies/subadults on paper towels. I have never had any gecko get impacted. Could just be luck, maybe spikensquirt had bad luck. Hard to say. However, he said he used "calcium sand" & there is a very good chance that the geckos opted for the calcium sand instead of the calcium in the dish. Or his girl ate sand while she was trying to get her crickets (the size of the food is kind of important here, too small & there is a good chance that the gecko gets a mouth full of sand!)or any number of things could have caused this disaster. I feel bad that someone lost their pet, but I still think sand (when used properly & with adequate attention to ALL areas of husbandry) is a good substrate for leos. There was a Big thread about this exact topic not to long ago. Several good points were made.

it DOES happen...luck or no luck...and i don't think that its actually a matter of luck...i think its a matter learning from other people's misfortunes/mistakes...i don't care how unlucky a person is...but the fact is..impaction occurs to even adults...im not trying to dissuade anybody thats already using sand cuz ur geckos are pretty much ur stuff...im sure that uve had success with ur geckos on sand...and if thats what works for you...thats great...im just stating the fact that if u are willing to even allow the risk..maybe...1/100000000 chance of havin an impacted gecko...that ill rather opt for the non-aesthetical choice....sorry if u were offended as i was just reminding people that impaction DOES happen...regardless of having a calcium dish or not...some geckos just don't readily take things out of a dish...i have a male that won't eat nothing but mealies in front of his face....and a female that eats fine with a dish...regardless if u have a dish or not...geckos can get impacted by ingesting sand while hunting...i know that usualy impaction problems are connected to other husbandry mishaps such as not providing a calcium dish/not dusting feeders with calcium powder...but in spikensquirts case...they did everything right...but were still "unlucky"...i personally agree that paper towels are fugly...and sand looks MUCH nicer....but ill give impaction the benefit of the doubt...and not try to challenge or tempt fate...even if the possibility is 0.000000001%...especially after the loss of spikensquirt...im even MORE careful....so im just saying that whomever isn't already using sand or is considering switching from sand to paper or paper to sand that they must KNOW the facts...

some people think im a hypocrite when i talk about such situations because they say....well.."u have a hognose snake and u may be allergic to hog venom...even if its a very slight possiblity"...and i plainly say "i agree...im taking this risk and its my decision and my life...but im not taking a risk of a life of something thats not my life...its the geckos life...if somethings gonna happen...id rather it happen to me..."...my geckos mean very much to me...and it sucks terribly when people have to lose their geckos due to things such as impaction or disease...i know this is a ridiculously long post...but i hope that this post will mean something to some people...u don't have to agree...but u can't refute the fact that impactions DO OCCUR DESPITE THE FACT THAT U FOLLOW THE HUSBANDRY GUIDELINES CORRECTLY....so..whoever is considering of switching one or the other substrates...this is something u MUST UNDERSTAND!
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"you won't know success if you haven't failed..."-eric chen
1.1.1 Hi-Yellow Leopard Geckoes
0.0.2 Blizzards
0.1.0 Western (Plains) Hognose Snake
0.1 Boxer Dog

I respect the opinions and experiences of other people on this forum. I wasn't at all offended & I hope you weren't offended as well! I hate to see anyone lose a pet for ANY reason, it always sucks!

haha...i scolded those jerks that wrote the stupid comments about ur nice fake rock thing!...its really nice..dunno what their talking about...
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"you won't know success if you haven't failed..."-eric chen
1.1.1 Hi-Yellow Leopard Geckoes
0.0.2 Blizzards
0.1.0 Western (Plains) Hognose Snake
0.1 Boxer Dog

n/p

LOL....Me and my 7 year old were looking around online and I asked him if he could pick any of the ones we were looking at which would he pick and he picked a blizzard.....so when we go to the show next month I guess we will probably be getting a blizzard.

darn..they should make blizzard AFTS...that would be soo awesome!!
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"you won't know success if you haven't failed..."-eric chen
1.1.1 Hi-Yellow Leopard Geckoes
0.0.2 Blizzards
0.1.0 Western (Plains) Hognose Snake
0.1 Boxer Dog

I guess the AFTS aren't skittish like leos?

I've decided to just keep my girl on the paper towels. I believe that you can keep leos on sand if all conditions are perfectly met but I would rather be safe then sorry. Thanks again for all the posts!

Jason

2.1.0 Tiger Reticulated Pythons
0.1.0 Supertiger Reticulated Pythons
1.2.0 Jampea Reticulated Pythons
1.0.0 Corn Snake
1.0.o Iguana
1.0.0 Asian Water Monitor
0.1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.1.1 Red-Eyed Tree Frog
0.0.4 Fish
o.1.0 Wife to be... LOL