Reptile & Amphibian Forums

so i've been wanting to create a real desert look for my leo cage, and i've been trying to figure out what substrate to use. however, it seems as though any type of sand is totally impractical, b/c when it gets wet, it clumps and hardens. what if the leos step into the water dish and then into the sand, won't the sand harden around their feet, potentially causing the leo to lose some digits due to circulation probs? or am i just paranoid? i know that impaction is always a concern, but i don't even feed my leos in their terrarium and they have calcium available to them at all times. all of my tanks are naturalistic and i refuse to use newspaper or anything like that. anyone have any suggestions??

and once again people are going to argue. So before all the fun starts, a little background. I have kept & bred leos (as well as many other species of herps) for over 9 years. I used to use calci sand but switched to play sand for my leos not too long ago. With that said...I HAVE NEVER HAD AN IMPACTION PROBLEM WITH ANY ANIMAL I HAVE EVER KEPT! I still have the 2 leos I started with, they are now fat, retired breeders. Everything I am saying is based on years of experience and a good knowledge about the natural environment of leos. YES, they do live on/near sand in the wild. They hang out mostly in the rocky outcropings, but there is sand everywhere. That is how they are able to dig little holes to sleep in and deposit eggs. You need to be careful of a few things; 1) don't allow leos to eat the sand, I think you already took care of that with the calcium dish. 2) provide a good supply of water, even when the geckos walk through the water & then the sand, the sand just dries up and falls off. (All of my leos also have all toes & original tails). 3) keep an eye on their droppings, if you see more than just a little sand, remove them from the sand. (I have never had this happen.) 4) make certain the moist hide is easily accessable. 5) Don't use piles of sand. My enclosures have about 1/8" of sand on the bottom. 6) Clean out the wastes everyday. This is actually easier to do on sand than with paper towels. 7) I completely replace the sand every month. 8) Don't put any leo younger than a sub adult (I wait until they are about 6-7 months old) on sand substrate. 9) Try to give then climbing rocks of areas where they can get off the sand if they want. The picture below is of one of my leo enclosures, I just took about 5 minutes ago. If you have questions feel free to ask. Let the fun begin!

I debated responding to that question because I didn't want to start a heated debate again....lol I just answered honestly...It's a personal choice. That was the best way I knew to answer it....hopefully there won't be a debate....take care

I always respect differing viewpoints when they come from knowledgable and responsible keepers. And when they are presented in a respectful manner. I know you have the best interest of your animals at heart. I think you posted some pics of your set ups & I think they look good! I use the fake rock/sand instead of the slate tile because of the enclosures I have, they might sag from the extra wieght. I will be building a jumbo size enclosure later this fall & I plan on using vinyl stick tile that looks like rock on the bottom & less sand. I will also do the fake rock thing agian and hopefully it will look even more like their natural environment. By the way post some more pics!

Not really sure as to what to tell you to use, alot of people use tile, that you can buy at home depot pretty cheap. I personally use papertowels, although I used to use sand. We stopped using sand because one of our leos became impacted and died. There are alot of people who do use sand....I guess it's just a personal choice.

1.2.0 Normals
1.5.0 Tangerines
1.0.0 Giant albino
0.1.0 Normal giant het for albino
0.0.1 Stipe
0.3.0 Albinos
0.1.0 Patternless
2.0.0 Albino hets
0.0.1 Very dark circle back
0.0.1 "Snow" looking

I currently use a combo of Mainly tile and sand. You can get natural rock-like looking tiles. Which are easy to clean keep heat well and look more natural than paper.

Try it, its inexpensive its not messy and won't cause any health problems.

good luck