Moving to sand

[Gregg M]

This sand thing is out of control and filled with a lot of "untruths"... I have said this a hundred times... SAND does not cause impactions... POOR HUSBANDRY causes impactions...

If you want to use sand, go on and do so... Personally I have been keeping leos and monitors on a Jurassic sand, organic compost, and soil mix for a very long time... No impaction problems... I used to feel the same as everyone else until I actually did some real research and came to my own conclusions and stopped listening to all the hype...

Basically if you propperly hydrate your geckos and offer high basking temps of 95 degrees or more, you will not have issues with impaction... Your gecko can and will ingest the substrate but will pass without issue...

If you keep your gecko at temps no higher than 88 degrees like most poorly written care sheets tell you to do, you will run the risk of impaction... Your cool side or ambient air temps should be no lower than 82 degrees...

As far as the tank not being sanitary goes, if you use the proper dirt and sand mix, you will be able to create a minnie eco system in the cage...

For example, I have some leos and my monitors set up in natural type cages... There are isopods, meal worms, super worms, and good bacteria that break down fecal matter in a matter of hours... They have been set up this way for years and IT WORKS!!!

There is no smell to any of the cages at all... When you dig through the soil, it is clean, fresh and free of fecal material...

If anyone wants to know more, feel free to email me or call me... My number can be found on my web site...

 

[Yamori]

Well said Greg, this is definately a debate that won't end overnight but i feel with propor education we can help people see the light so to speak .

Ive had my geckos and other reptiles on sand for as long as i can remember, i admit when i first got them i was walking the same road many walk, the sand is bad and will kill my gecko road, we have all been their hey but after actualy doing the research, reading up and also spending a fare amount of time observing reptiles captive and wild i found that its perfectly safe.

For most of my tanks i use just natural sand but i also have tanks set up with sand and eco earth. Not a single problem with any of them. Those of you who nay say need to quit worring and give your geckos a substrate they were meant to be on instead of paper towl, carpet or tile.
As for cleaning and hygene, i simply have tablespoon(one that i will never use again lol), a large paintbrush and a load of plastic bags in a box near my tanks so every morning before work i simply scoop the poop out and drop it in to one of the rubish bags, grab the paintbrush and do a quite bit of tiding up by sweeping the sand, throw the bag away and im done, never had any bad smells either.

At the end of the day its your choice, just don't make a choise based on untruths and misconceptions. -

Darren

 

[CYBERICK1]

Got a question for those of you who use sand as a substrate: Ever have any issues/instances were your leo "digs" sand out from a particular spot? I ask because in my current tank setup I have sand on one end (Reptilite - about 4x10 inches) - in which I have some cactus planted (is the only reason I have sand in the tank...) then the rest whole middle/far end of the tank I have tiles with some CocoFiber in one of the corners where I place his moist hide.

The thing is that last Wednesday when I entered my room the tank was a mess! Turns out little 'Kahn' had digged some sand out from a corner of the tank... water dish and tiles were full of it as if he had desperately digged trying to find something? :main_huh: So... I fixed everything back, all clean and tidy... then 2 days later, I woke up and bam! Again... the saaaaame mess aaaalll over again... :dizzy: This ever happened to you guys? I had to even replace one of the cactus plant because he kinda smashed up the poor thing in his sand diggin rage... :inquisitive:

 

[Yamori]

Why geckos dig? could be a number of reason depending on what type of heating you use.

If you use a lamp he may be digging down to the cooler layer of sand in order to cool off a bit. If your using a UTH he may be digging down to reach the warmth, heck their may even be a feeder that burrowd down in to the sand that he can smell?

My thick tailds have dug a few holes here and their and even a small burrow leading down from inside one of their hides. I fill in the holes but have left the burrow as they use it.