>Sorry to quote to you (it's just someone else's opinion anyways), but in
>"The Leopard Gecko Manual", p.11, de Vosjoli et al write, "Like many other
>terrestrial geckos such as frog-eyed geckos (Teratoscincus) and spider
>geckos (Agamura), leopard geckos will naturally ingest substrate as a source
>of calcium.
The source you have sited, lists geckos from very tough environments. It
is possible these animals might have to eat some sand if their prey items
can not supply the calcium they need. My point was that I really don't
think that it is all that normal for geckos to gulp down sand in order to
obtain calcium. I have seen captive geckos stuffed from mouth to vent with
sand. When animals do this there has to be something in the diet that they
are lacking.
Since we are the keepers of these animals, it is our responsibility to try
and find the best way to keep our pets healthy. I don't think that giving a
gecko sand, is an adequate way of supplying their calcium requirements. I
also have questions about supplementing with calcium powder. How do we know
if we are over or under supplementing our pets diet? Many breeders of
geckos in the USA have geckos with huge calcium sacks. You don't usually
see this condition in wild caught geckos. Something to think about. ;>
Catriona
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