Reptile & Amphibian Forums

okay, i dont use any substrate for my 2 cresteds, and this seems to work alright. I am just REALLY nervous about substrates. At the beginning of my herp endeavor I bought 3 leapord geckos and used the sand they sell at the PETCOs and lost all 3 of the to gut impact. I hated watching them die and I dont want to lose any more geckos so PLEASE HELP

Like you, I hate substrates. I use non-adhesive shelf liner in both my bearded dragon enclosures and my pictus enclosure, and they all seem to do fine on it. I think it's better than bare glass because it's not slick and reflective, and it's easy to take out and wash. Just be sure you have a moist hide and mist occasionally to keep the humidity right, because the shelf liner won't hold moisture like soil or moss would.

Here's a picture...

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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
1.0 pictus gecko (Nicodemus)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Calcifer)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

heres a few thoughts..... it is thought that maybe in the wild, leos naturally eat sand to aid their digestion... another theory i've heard is that leos can smell calcium, so they can smell the calcium in the caclium sand, and therefore they try to eat it, and then when they do, they impact themselves.... either way, there is a high risk for impaction with leos, since they eat their substrate, but appparently, cresteds, pictus, and most other geckos are not at the same risk as leos, since they don't attempt to eat their substrate.... also, everything I've said was taken from things that i've read about these lizards, not fromy MY own persoanl experience..

I have never had an impaction problem with ZooMed's super fine grade sand. The stuff is literally what you would find in an hourglass and seems to work well for pretty much anything. My friend breeds beardeds and uses #1/20 grade or #0/30 (but thats adult beardeds, not leopards). For leopards I'd either use the super fine or the #0/30 if all else fails. If you want to be super safe (more keeper paranoia than anything else if you ask me), use paper towel or just regular towel for humidity.

I use that reptile carpet in all my vivs for my cresties, viper tails, and oedura (velvet).....it works great, easy clean up....you can wash it & let it dry then reuse it over and over again.....and it's relatively inexpensive, and come in various colors too.
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2.0.0 Cresteds
1.1.0 Afican Fat Tail
0.1.1 Viper Tail
0.0.1 Oedura castelnaui

here's one of my viper tail set ups with the carpet in it.

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2.0.0 Cresteds
1.1.0 Afican Fat Tail
0.1.1 Viper Tail
0.0.1 Oedura castelnaui