Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everybody...I said before that I house my leo's with sand bedding and even posted a picture of the tank I keep them in...everyone was telling me not to use sand but instead use paper towels to eliminate the possibility of impaction...

I did a little research...well actually me and my gf went to petsmart to buy more sand for the tank...I found out that it's not actually sand...it's organic, calcium enriched sand produced and used as a calcium suppliment...not neccisarily replacing an actual calcium supplement (dusting food items)..but i'm assuming it does help...

this sand will not cause impaction correct?

Thanks!!

-S1N

Paper tower is best, calci sand still causes impaction...

Calci-sand, which is probably what you are talking about (or possibly Vita-sand) is even worse than regular sand. If you really have your heart set on keeping your baby on sand, buy the finest grain washed play sand available at your local "home depot" type store. But keep in mind that impactions are a very real possibility when a baby leo is kept on any type of sand.

For a more natural look, i know a lot of people on this forum use tiles. I dont know much about that or how do to it...maybe someone else could add a little about that...
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1.0 green iguana-Deitrich
1.1 Common Boa-Un-Named, Ursula
1.0 Ball Python-Anabell (go figure!)
1.0 Red Tegu-Uteg
1.0 Albino Cal King-Pig
0.1 Mexican Black King-Morticia
1.1 Bearded Dragons-Unnamed, Hanabil
1.0 Albino San Diego Gopher-Unnamed
0.1 Hermans tort-Esio
1.1 JCP-Milton, Medusa
1.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Snow Corn-Unnamed
1.0 Hypo Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Motley Okeetee-Unnamed
1.0 Western Hoggie-Wyrm
0.0.1 Rose Hair Taruntla-Unnamed
2.0 Leopard Geckos-Reptar, Pogo
4.1 cats-Tucker,Poe,Abhib,Emerald, Felicity
0.1 Bullmastiff-Asha

The substrate you use depends on you.....many people will tell you not to use sand becasue it causes impaction. Ya, you take a risk when using sand, but ive kept leopard geckos on sand for many years in the past without any problems. As far as the calci sand is concerned, I think i bought a bag of it once and they were pretty large grains of "sand." It seems to me that if your gonna use sand you should go for the finest posible grains of sand u can, so that that they pass through your gecko's body easier. Maybe im wrong, but that seems logical to me...

i use tile and it works great
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-Ryan

When we got our first leo we listened to the guy at petco and they told us to use calci-sand and of course we had to learn the hard way. Our leo died of impaction...so yes it can cause impaction.

Everyone's been telling me to use paper towels but there not very asthetically pleasing...i'd like some decor that's good on the eyes as well as functioanl and safe...

My gf has had vita-sand (found out the name) in the tank we house our gecko's in for the past 5 months...basically since she bought him as a lil tyke...now that we have another baby i figured i should do some research and get some opinions...

The 5 month old has survived thus far...but I'm going to go to home depot tomorrow and price some extremely fine grain white sand...

and if anybody knows how to set-up/use tile...please feel free to fill me in...it sounds interesting...if anybody has any pictures of there personal use of tile...please post so i can get an idea...thanks!!!

-S1N

I have another setup like this one, except no tile. Be carful when smashing tile with a hammer, it leaves sharp edges that will need to be filed.

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www.hullabalooherps.com

Hi,

I have a baby leo too and had the same mindset that you do when I first got him. I didn't want to put him on paper towels. I wanted to make him look like he was in his natural habitat. I've heard a lot of conflicting things about sand and other substrates, so my thought is: why risk it at all?

Finally, I came to the conclusion that tile is too difficult to cut and there are still gaps. Also, heat doesn't penetrate through the tile very well, so that leads to a new set of problems. It just seemed like a pain overall. So, I went to Lowes and found linolium squares. I have a 10 gallon tank, so a pair of scissors and $1.99 later, I had the perfect setup for my gecko. And he loves it. Also, they have so many patterns. I got one that looks like sand and it retains heat well too.

Hopefully this helps. Good luck.

Beth

I use to use sand, but I switched to stick on linolium. I have a 20G long cage and it used about 2 3/4 of tile that cost about a $1 apiece. Heat goes through them well and best of all no sand gets in his mouth when he misses crickets
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0.1 bearded dragon (Kalypso)
1.0 ambanja panther (Neptune)
1.0 leopard gecko (Balaram)
0.0.1 blue tounge skink
0.0.1 red tail boa (Ra)
0.0.1 jungle X coastal carpet python (Loki)

It is my understanding that Calci or vita sand is
worse than regular sand because the Calcium in the
sand encourages the Leo to eat more of it.

I am learning about Leo's, Have Beardeds.
I need to set up a tank for a leo.
Any links to set ups would be much apperciated by the
way.