Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First of all, I am a new leo owner and sooo exited! They are 2 little girls about 4 months old. I definately have some experience in that I used to own a Collered Lizard and 2 CAB Geckos. But the leos are my favorites! Now about the sand question....I got this sand from a reptile show and it is called "Gecko Dirt" and it is 0 Pure Calcium Carbonate. Is this still bad for them and can cause impaction? Because if it is then I want to change my substrate! And one more thing...how do you post images onto your message? Thanks guys!

For young leos sand should not be used at all, as it can cause impaction. I personally don't use sand anymore because of my bad experiance. I lost one of my leos to impaction. We got her when she was about 3 months old and used sand, not knowing what it could do. I have read that alot of people put their adult leos on sand, but they use play sand. Like I said for juvi. I would say get them off the sand. Hope this helps. As for images, at the top their is a thing you can click that says photo gallery, go to that and click upload picture and then click the image you want from your computer and then name your image and that should be about it.

Congratulations on the new purchase. It's always exciting to get new leos. Yes, I would definitely take them off the sand at least until they are full-grown.
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5.6 leopard geckos

chickabowwow

I haven't heard too much about this stuff, but I still don't think it's a good idea. If it is pure calcium carbonate then the gecko may eat too much of it. Too much calcium can cause just as many problems as not enough. Not too mention if it is very fine like most calcium powders it would be very dusty, which could be a pain to clean as well as cause respiratory problems in your gecko. Mix it with a bit of water, if it turns into kind of a paste, that's probably what it would do in your geckos stomach, which may be very difficult to digest therefore causing impaction eventually. With your geckos being such a young age, I would use paper towel or slate. If you really want sand, I would use play sand, but wait a couple of months. It is your choice though, these are just my thoughts.

Lisa
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0.1 Hypo Leopard Gecko
0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko
0.1 Blizzard Leopard Gecko
1.0 Albino Pacman Frog
1.0 Lovebird (Tony)
1.0 Elkhound Cross (Otto)
0.1 Malamute Cross (Paris)
6.0 Bettas

Thanks for the advice guys....I'll take them off the sand and use paper towels.

We have used both sand and cocoanut back chips. I don't have a problem with leo owners using papertowels and such, but remember this, Leos LOVE to dig! Try to find a substrate that allows them to do what still comes naturally. A word of caution though with anything they can dig. They will burrow under items in their tanks. You should put things like water dishes directly on the bottom of the tank. Just something to keep in mind.
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2 Leos
Lizzie
Leroy