Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In my leo enclosures I have a hide box on the warm side, one on the cooler side and a moist hidebox somewhere in the middle to help with shedding/egg laying. I have moist vermiculite in the shedding/egg laying box. All has been smooth until today I noticed vermiculite in the droppings in a several different enclosures. This made no sense to me, as I do have calcium/vitamin powder available at all times, so they shouldnt be eating the vermiculite they way they would sand to get the nutrients in it. The only thing I can think of is that maybe the vermiculite is too moist and the geckos are eating it to get the water out of it. I have a few females who should be laying soon, so I dont want to make any dramatic changes in the cages. Im stumped! Has any one ever heard of this? What do you guys use in the shedding/egg laying boxes? What should I do? Thanks alot.

I also have that problem. I am scared of my geckos getting an impaction, so I looked at many breeders' website and it seems like most of them use sphagnum peat moss for the lay box. I changed my substrate to peat moss today. I guess most people use vermiculite just to incubate.

Also, I don't think the geckos eat it on purpose. My geckos lick everything that touch their mouth, and I think the vermiculite is licked off by accident (although most try to spit it out). Another possibility is that the geckos' food got in there,and they ate the vermiculite with it.

I just switched to eco-earth. very good. holds moisture better than vermi imo too.
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1.0 Blizzard Bill
1.0 Hypo stripe, Het Rainwater from JL (BJ)
1.0 HypoTang from Crested (Apricot)
1.0 Tremper Albino (Cloud)
0.2 Hi-Yellow Leopard gecko (Beatrice, Pepper, Goldie-now w/SD)
0.1 Normal (Freckles)
0.1 SHCT Leopard Gecko (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko (Rainbow)
0.1 Tremper Albino (Leucy)
RIP Peaches, Ghost

On a side note...

If you're concerned about your leo getting enough calcium, one simple thing I changed that helped dramaticlly, was to put their calcium in a snapple bottle lid and inside their hide. Some of my leos made a small mess out of it, and other didn't. But with such a small amount I could tell that they were eating it. (The snout marks gave it away). Try that to see if your leos eat more calcium.

-Jason
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LEOS:
1.0 Tremper Giant Albino (Diesel)
0.1 High Yellow (Ayla)
0.1 Hypo (Red Sonja)
0.0.3 Juvies (Dremel, Ryobi & Mufasa)
R.I.P. (Conan)

CATS:
2.0 Maine Coons (Sam & Tye)

FIANCÉE:
0.1 Tall Blonde (Christine)

Thanks for the input. I removed all of the vermiculite, and replaced it teporarily with damp paper towels. The leos dont seem to mind either way. Oh, and I already have the calcium/vitamin power offered in the way you said, Jay. Eco-earth is the coconut husk, right? I was thinking of using that as well. How has it worked out for you? I've heard of the causing impaction as well, even though the manufacturers claim it cant become impacted. Anyway. let me know and thanks again.