Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my female geckos has taken to feeling the nesting box (currenty full of cocnut fiber) with sand. She stands in the opening and kicks sand into the box, adding as much as an inch of sand. I thought it might be an egg-laying behavior, but she doesn't look pregnant, hasn't laid any eggs, and I have never seen her mating with my male (who is unproven). I haven't seen any mating behavior in the entire colony, and they haven't been cooled to breed or anything. I empty out the sand, and she goes right back and kicks more back in. She doesn't even hang out in the nesting box when shes not filling it with sand! Anyone seen this before..?
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Corn Snakes: Eden, Mars, Sierra, Lavendar, The Tweedle Twins
Crested Geckos: Parker, Emily Dickinson, Bonnie, Benz, Jude, Cali
Leopard Geckos: Paris, Helen, Annabelle, Artemis, Vesta
Jambea Dwarf Retic: Montague

My breeder females do this all season long. lol Now I just leave it in there. they seem to like them full
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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)
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, Bill
Hatched: ~25
Holdbacks: 1.0 SHCTB- nice surprise! and 0.1 jungle
Available:
1.0 SHCT, 0.0.1 aberrant m?, 0.0.1 pastel F?, 7 month male circleback tang

Please remove all the sand from the nesting box...
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2.4.2 Leopard Gecko (Abraxas, Trinny, Susahna)
0.2.0 Homonota Darwinii (Talus & Gracilis)
0.1.0 Cham Caliptratus (looking for a name)
1.0.0 Golden Retriever (Cafu)
1.0.0 Black Cat (Felipe)
0.0.8000 Tenebrio Molitor
0.0.2000 Zoophoba Mario
0.0.2500 Lobster Roaches

I'm not going to engage in another sand flame war here. Can you give me your reasons for not allowing it to stay? I'm guessing the humidity in the box was too high, and Beatrice took it upon herself to correct it.
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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)
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, Bill
Hatched: ~25
Holdbacks: 1.0 SHCTB- nice surprise! and 0.1 jungle
Available:
1.0 SHCT, 0.0.1 aberrant m?, 0.0.1 pastel F?, 7 month male circleback tang

For the record, I've never had a sand problem. And I know its possible, but I think if you take care of your geckos and appropriately supplement them, they wont cause a problem.
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Corn Snakes: Eden, Mars, Sierra, Lavendar, The Tweedle Twins
Crested Geckos: Parker, Emily Dickinson, Bonnie, Benz, Jude, Cali
Leopard Geckos: Paris, Helen, Annabelle, Artemis, Vesta
Jambea Dwarf Retic: Montague

thank you from a fellow loose substrate user! I use a sand/bedabeast mixture in my vivs, and with the other precautions in place, no problems and 4 years strong and counting! What kind of sand are you using?
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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)
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, Bill
Hatched: ~25
Holdbacks: 1.0 SHCTB- nice surprise! and 0.1 jungle
Available:
1.0 SHCT, 0.0.1 aberrant m?, 0.0.1 pastel F?, 7 month male circleback tang

Two of my females do this regardless. One of them actually moves all the sand from one side of the tank to the other, ignoring the humid hide, and the other will kick away all the sand from around the laying box and and get in and try to kick it out. Some of that was kind of irrelevent, so sorry. But one solution you can use is putting the opening for the laying box on the top instead of the side. It prevents them from kicking in or out anything. Hope that helps.