Looking for a more aesthetically pleasing substrate..

[KaitouCat]

At the moment I'm using reptile carpet for my leos tank but find it rather unpleasing to the eye and was looking to change it up. Now I've heard you can use slate tiles which I suppose is a possibility but is there anything else that can be used safely? A friend of mine uses a type of reptile bark in her tank which looks quite nice and I was considering the possibility of smooth pebble like stones or perhaps a mixture of things.

So any suggestions to an alternative substrate that might be a bit more natural/nice looking but still safe to use?


Here is the tank in its current state. Also note that this is only part of the tank.

 

[acpart]

I like ceramic tiles which are lighter, thinner and more regular than slate. I go to Home Depot and get slightly textured beige tiles, usually under $1.25 a tile.

Aliza

 

[krusty46]

I love slate tiles. They are cheap, easy to clean and I love the way they look.

 

[KaitouCat]

Well you see, while tile does look nice it also looks rather flat which is what bothers me. I might use some tile for like the hides and potty area but I'd also like to use something that would look nicer with added plants to give the tank a bit more of a vivid look. I'd really like one of those really fancy setups with all the custom shaped hides and ramps but eesh.. Maybe in the future.. xD

 

[indyana]

I'm sure you could use large, smooth stones (large enough that the gecko couldn't eat them), but the problem becomes keeping it clean. Anything that's difficult and time consuming to clean tends to make people procrastinate on doing it and lead to the buildup of nasty stuff in the substrate. That's why tile is such a fun idea.

Maybe if you had collected and cleaned some ornamental rocks, you could give the terrarium some "terrain" over the flat tile?