Hi Laura,
Laura Ricketts wrote:
> Julie (and others),
>
> What are you using... I think I missed this?
>
I use paper towels, the nice thick blue kind from Costco called "Shop Towels." Most
serious leopard gecko breeders use paper
towels or newspaper for ease of cleaning and elimination of substrate ingestion
problems. Bacteria and unfriendly organisms can
also live and hide in sand, another plus for paper towels!
>
> > Rick brings up a good point. Using sand can be
> dangerous. One of the problems is if your leopard
> gecko becomes ill, one of the first things
> they do is start gobbling down the substrate.>
>
> Why would they eat the substrate if they are becoming
> ill?
>
To try and fix whatever is wrong with them, a natural response. There are some
minerals or something in there that they need.
>
> <<If they were in their natural enviroment, this would
> probably benefit them as there is stuff in the natural
> substrate with nutrients. In > captivity most people
> do not pick this up until it is too late.>>
>
> What "would" their natural enviroment substrate
> consist of besides sand, soil,decaying plant matter,
> and possibly pebbles, stones, etc.? Do you think
> using natural substrate - soil directly from a desert
> environment - would be better?
If you could go to their natural environment in the Middle East, you would be able to
duplicate the substrate properly.. I don't
think you can eliminate problems with ingestion with substitute substrates. You can be
on the lookout for it though, and this
usually takes some time and experience with leopards.
>
>
> <<It is also a matter of what the gecko is used to and
> how old it is. Putting a young leopard on sand or
> anything else that could be ingested is foolish. I had
> a customer put one of my healthy babies on
> bed-a-beast, it was ingested and the gecko died.
> Another went against my advice, used bed-a-beast with
> a young leo and it got the bed a beast in its eye, got
> an eye infection!>>
>
> The trio of leopards that I am getting from a friend
> are used to being on only paper towels with a
> rubbermaid hide box...
That is a very safe way to do things with the exception of the GACK, hot rock!
> oh, and a heat rock (which I
> don't intend to use)...
Good!
> they are adults, we estimate
> at about 3-4 years old. She doesn't know what they
> were maintained on previously...she's had them for at
> least 1 1/2 years. I had planned to put them on sand,
> but I am wavering.
>
Unless you have 6 mos to a year of leopard experience, I would wait until I did so
before fooling around with ingestible
substrates. If you jump right into sand now, before spending some time learning their
habits, you could miss the signs of sand
impaction.
>
> >As far as calci-sand, I do not recommend it. Too
> coarse, too many know cases of impaction. >>
>
> I also have a crocodile gecko (Tarentola mauretanicus)
> and I have been keeping "it" on calci-sand for over a
> year now. It's about 4" long, don't know it's age or
> sex... My daughter bought it from a pet store, then
> lost interest in it... I ended up adopting it! I
> can't find much information about them, except they
> like basically the same environment as leos. Any
> information about them, their maintenance and care,
> etc. would be greatly appreciated.
>
I don't work with Tarentola, others here may have. When you are basically with out
info, try the GGA site for care sheets and
links. http://www.kingsnake.com also has a good many links. A good basic book is the
Bartlett and Barlett Geckos: a pet owner's
manual. This will get you going with proper husbandry techniques for geckos. It also
features information on popular pet geckos.
Julie Bergman
http://www.geckoranch.com
GGA paper towel user!
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