Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, like 4 months ago, we "lost" some of our juvenile leopards at work. Well, we found one. Take a look at her and see what you think. I'm guessing she's roughly about 6 months . . . High Yellow Jungle maybe??

She's really skinny and just shed out . . . She ate 10 crickets last night which are probably some of the first she's seen in a while . . . Gonna fatten her up and make her real healthy.

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Trish
1.0.0 Albino Leopard Gecko
0.1.0 Hypo-Something Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Rat
0.1.0 Cockatiel
0.1.0 Pitbull/Golden Retriever
0.2.0 Cats
0.1.0 Horse
And who knows how many fish

Im not exactly sure about the morph, but im sure someone here will know. I did want to say that the substrate she is on looks scary. It looks sort of like the crushed wallnut bedding which can cause serious impactions, i know a few people who have lost their animals to this type of bedding. I would suggest switching to something less dangerous for the good of your gecko.

she is lucky to have been found though!

good luck
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

>>I would suggest switching to something less dangerous for the good of your gecko.

You know, everytime I ask for suggestions on bedding, nobody ever wants to make suggestions. I have been told by some people Desert Blend is fine, and some people that it's not. Actually, if you scroll down a while, I did post a week sor so ago asking about what people suggest for bedding and never got a response. Not just that, but I have kept Leopards on Desert Blend for 2-3 years without problems. Not that I'm saying you're wrong . . . I'm just making a general comment.

I would LOVE some information on peoples' opinions on bedding. So instead of everytime I post picture people making a comment on how dangerous my bedding is, someone actually makes a suggestion thats better for them??
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Trish
1.0.0 Albino Leopard Gecko
0.1.0 Hypo-Something Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Rat
0.1.0 Cockatiel
0.1.0 Pitbull/Golden Retriever
0.2.0 Cats
0.1.0 Horse
And who knows how many fish

Hi, i have kept 2 leos for a year now and im getting 2 new girls next week. I feel you because i find sometimes when i post i get no reply too so what i then tend to do is use the SEARCH facility to see if it finds the same question im asking. If you use that alot of the time u can read through and find alot of opinions on things LIKE substrates etc. In my opinion i use paper towel all the time for absolute safety from impaction but if i was to use anything else for a more natural look i would use the finest grain washed play sand you can find. For humid hides again paper towels unless you have a gravid female/s which then i personally use eco earth. Hope that helps a bit and if u have any more questions Just put GILBERY007 at the start of ur message and ill help as much as i can.

Maybe the reason you dont get any responses is because nobody is telling you want you want to hear, and/or nobody wants to start another heated debate!

The optimum bedding for leos is one of two choices: Paper towel, or if you want to get "fancy", tile. Everything other than that (although it may look nice) has risks or at least, a downside.

Many people use sand for years and dont have a problem, but one day, one of their leos gets impacted, and they dont take it to a vet, and it dies. these people (people being a very, very general sterotype) are usually too imbarassed to admit they were wrong, and you dont hear from them again, in fear of "I told you so". I'm sure theres a few people on here who have had sand problems, but there the smart ones who fixed it, and their leos are still around to thank them!

anyways, thats just my 2 cents. heavily influenced by the fact that i have dealt with very stubborn people who ask questions about sub. then get mad when i suggest they souldnt use sand (especially for "new" or younger leos!) because thas what they think looks best.
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0.2.0. Leo
1.1.0. WTF
0.1.0. Irish Setter
2.1.0. Holland Lop Bunnies
1.1.0. House Cats
Too Many Fish!

Check out my site ~ www.freewebs.com/stephsgeckos

i agree about the not debating part- it's always the sand versus paper towel people, and the debate is always long, and some people always take it personally. so most people just don't answer substrate questions, because any answer other than 'paper towel' (or, more recently, tile), is going to have someone calling the other person an idiot, etc. there's also the debate, within the 'sand' folk, what kinds of sand to use, and why/not, etc. it gets really tiresome.
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marla
currently: 0.0.9 catfish, 0.1 ferrets, 0.0.2 strawberry hermit crabs, 2.8.3 leopard geckoes, 0.0.13 oriental fire-bellied toads, and 0.2.0 sugar gliders

There are many different substrates you can use. Sand isn't so bad as long as you are carefull, get the finest grain sand you can find and are willing to take your leo's to the vet if need be. The wallnut is worse just because of its really sharp edges. Im sorry if i sounded harsh or unhelpful when i commented before, that was not my intention at all.

You can also use paper towels, tile, linolium (sp?), indoor/outdoor carpeting or non-adhesive shelf liner
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

hadn't though tto mention the humid hide part:

i use a sponge (the kind without the hard scrub part) cut to fit the tupperware, and then add moss on top for gravid females (so they can dig around in it and feel more secure about laying).

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marla
currently: 0.0.9 catfish, 0.1 ferrets, 0.0.2 strawberry hermit crabs, 2.8.3 leopard geckoes, 0.0.13 oriental fire-bellied toads, and 0.2.0 sugar gliders

heh- you make an interesting point. but i know a lot of people on here get tired of answering questions. and they always say, 'do a search,' but the new way of doing searches , goes through all of the forums, and not many people actually say 'leopard gecko' in their posts, see what i'm saying?

anways- i use paper towel. i think it looks fine. i actually find it less convenient than when i had sand, but i can tell i'm keeping things cleaner. beware, almost no one will support you about coconut chunk bedding. the other one most people use is some kind of sand. some people use 'tile,' which i guess means linoleum tile (i don't usually read substrate posts, because i'm so happy with paper towel).
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marla
currently: 0.0.9 catfish, 0.1 ferrets, 0.0.2 strawberry hermit crabs, 2.8.3 leopard geckoes, 0.0.13 oriental fire-bellied toads, and 0.2.0 sugar gliders

We have about 27 leos now and keep all of them on papertowel and that would be my suggestion. In my opinion that is the safest. When we started out keeping leos we used sand, because that is what the petstore suggested, we lost one leo to impaction. We switched to papertowel and haven't had a problem since. Alot of people suggest tile as well. Hope this helps you.

Rhonda

>Alot of people suggest tile as well.

My concern with tile was that i was otld by someone to not use ceramic because it can overheat . . . and also I thought that that would make the under tank heater not useful . . .

Any thoughts??
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Trish
1.0.0 Albino Leopard Gecko
0.1.0 Hypo-Something Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Rat
0.1.0 Cockatiel
0.1.0 Pitbull/Golden Retriever
0.2.0 Cats
0.1.0 Horse
And who knows how many fish

(not the above example of the intillegen person who ditched the sand )

you can put the tile on a paced down layer of peat (dont let peat get through the cracks too much) and it insulates it nicely
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0.2.0. Leo
1.1.0. WTF
0.1.0. Irish Setter
2.1.0. Holland Lop Bunnies
1.1.0. House Cats
Too Many Fish!

Check out my site ~ www.freewebs.com/stephsgeckos

OOPS! I meant NOTE, not, not. sorry
-----
0.2.0. Leo
1.1.0. WTF
0.1.0. Irish Setter
2.1.0. Holland Lop Bunnies
1.1.0. House Cats
Too Many Fish!

Check out my site ~ www.freewebs.com/stephsgeckos

I've got to admit that I use sand but I don't disagree with anyone that uses anything else nor do I care what anyone else thinks about what I use because its my choice. I use an extremely fine sand that I wash, dry and sift long before it ever goes into my reptiles tanks. I know that sounds like a lot of work but my animals are well worth the effort as far as I'm concerned. I don't use sand because it looks nice I use it because thats what my geckos are used to and the person that recommended the sand I use has over sixty different kinds of reptiles and hasn't had one die on him from anything other than old age yet. There's also the fact that I'm over protective when it comes to my animals to the fact that I know everytime they use the bathroom. There are sometimes that I'll even watch them use the bathroom to make sure that they're okay. Maybe I go a little over board with my animals and their health but I'd rather be over protective than have one die before its time.

My foundling same situation only this is her about a week after we found her...she was good at finding all of the store's escaped crickets.

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0.3.0 Dogs - Delaney, Darcie, Mali
2.1.0 Cats - Dante, Diesel, Dixie
2.0.0 Cockatiels - Toast, Waffles
2.0.0 White's Treefrogs - Splish, Splash
1.0.0 Gold Treefrog - Fernando
2.2.2 Leopard Geckos - Joey, Ross, Chandler, Phoebe, Rachael, Monica
3.0.0 Crested Geckos - Stubbie, Lou, Oz
1.0.0 Jewel Curly-Tailed Lizard - Guapo
0.0.6 Hermit Crabs - it's hard to name something when they change shells so often that you can't tell who's who
1.0.0 Chinchilla - Poncho
4.0.0 Guinea Pigs - Rodney, Reese, Ray, Rufus

Not to mention the plethora of fish:
5.0.0 Bettas - Maui, Mahalo, Horatio, Mac, Lonestar
0.0.1 Goldfish - Monkey
20 Gallon Fresh
*0.0.1 Dinosaur Bicher - Grissom
55 Gallon Planted Community - too many to name
20 Gallon Marine
*1.1.0 Ocellaris Clown - Jack, Diane
*0.0.1. Neon Blue Goby - Cecilia
*0.0.1 Orangetailed Damsel - Bobby Magee

1.0.0 Boyfriend - Michael

thanks for reminding me, via the picture:

repti-carpet is another substrate that is largely deemed safe. it's basically like astro-turf, but not rough. i think that's what the gecko in the previous comment is on.
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marla
currently: 0.0.9 catfish, 0.1 ferrets, 0.0.2 strawberry hermit crabs, 2.8.3 leopard geckoes, 0.0.13 oriental fire-bellied toads, and 0.2.0 sugar gliders

you bet. I use it for all my leopards, easy to clean and a little more natural looking than flower printed paper towels
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0.3.0 Dogs - Delaney, Darcie, Mali
2.1.0 Cats - Dante, Diesel, Dixie
2.0.0 Cockatiels - Toast, Waffles
2.0.0 White's Treefrogs - Splish, Splash
1.0.0 Gold Treefrog - Fernando
2.2.2 Leopard Geckos - Joey, Ross, Chandler, Phoebe, Rachael, Monica
3.0.0 Crested Geckos - Stubbie, Lou, Oz
1.0.0 Jewel Curly-Tailed Lizard - Guapo
0.0.6 Hermit Crabs - it's hard to name something when they change shells so often that you can't tell who's who
1.0.0 Chinchilla - Poncho
4.0.0 Guinea Pigs - Rodney, Reese, Ray, Rufus

Not to mention the plethora of fish:
5.0.0 Bettas - Maui, Mahalo, Horatio, Mac, Lonestar
0.0.1 Goldfish - Monkey
20 Gallon Fresh
*0.0.1 Dinosaur Bicher - Grissom
55 Gallon Planted Community - too many to name
20 Gallon Marine
*1.1.0 Ocellaris Clown - Jack, Diane
*0.0.1. Neon Blue Goby - Cecilia
*0.0.1 Orangetailed Damsel - Bobby Magee

1.0.0 Boyfriend - Michael