Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I feel like I'm gonna get in trouble for this, but here goes.... I just got a baby Leo, about 5 to 7 weeks old (stripes are still solid) and I had her on a mix of tile (about 1/3 of the 29 gallon at the warm end) with flat stones and sand between them the rest of the way to the cool end, with a spot in the middle that was mostly sand. I know the rule, no sand for babies, but now I am pretty sure she is ingesting sand as she strikes at the crickets. She ate some sand when I first put her in there. That was 2 days ago. Yesterday, I checked her poop and the first one was dry brown stuff and about 1/4 of fine white powder. (I have a dish of D3 free phos free calcium in her viv at all times) The next poop was about 1/3 sand! My question is, will she be okay? Her next poop after that was 1/3 whitish and 2/3 brown. I didn't see any sand. Plus, I vacuumed out all the sand so there is just tile and rocks now. Will she be okay? Should I wait til she is 8 or 9 months old before I put any sand in or what?

1.0 Corn Snake "Motega"
0.0.1 Leopard Gecko "Zubi"

The "white stuff" is urates (AKA pee). Our little repti-camels efficiently pass both feces and 'urine' in the same dump clump.

You *can* see many types of sand in the feces if they are housed on that and you look closely. What you can't see is what is getting lodged inside their gastrointestinal system.

I think your little guy will be just fine since the sand has been removed. I admit to having one wild caught critter that I always keep with 1/3 his container filled with play sand. Without a burrowing/digging substrate, he freaks out completley. He's had his "sand box" for a long time...even when still growing...and he's just fine. But I think that's because I feed him in a separate container. No risk of swallowing sand.
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Too many Leos
1.0 feline "Spot"
0.1 canine "Tika"

Thanks. I think she will be okay too. I did a real lot of research on Leopard Geckos before I got her. I had to get her out to vacuum and I had not handled her prior to that. It took about 10 minutes of slow hand movements, but after the stand up real tall/hissing action at first, she actually walked on to my hand later!! She is back in safely and is snoozing now. Thanks again.

1.0 Corn Snake "Motega"
0.0.1 baby Leopard Gecko "Zubi"

A good time to put your leo on sand is when they are 20 years old.