my new fat tail

[T-ReXx]

It does in fact say that Alex, which is incorrect and misleading information, the book like I said is outdated, and is full of quite a bit of misinformation. It's basically a book on leopard geckos with a few small sections nodding towards fattails, cat geckos, gonis, Bandeds, and Holodactylus. My point is, no where in fact does it directly quote a breeder keeping fat tails on sand, nor does it recommend it. Nor does it mention keeping fat tails on PURE sand, there are people who choose to use a sand/moss mix, but none that keep afts on calcisand. At least none that keep their animals alive for any length of time, that is.

 

[gixxer3420]

I still would like to know the fat tail breeders that are using sand as substrate. I know I dont use it and Ive got 21 adult fatties that I breed. I know a bunch of fat tail breeders and none of them use sand.

 

[fuzzylogix]

point is that you are referencing a book that is 6 years old, is based on the care of leopard geckos, and you have a very successful fat tail breeder telling you that its going to kill your new buddy. they are trying to help you so that you don't have to go through what many of us have gone through in the past when dealing with impactions. the truth of the matter is that sand can and does cause impaction, that's proven. fat tails need more humidity which sand does not support, again proven. even species that in the wild live on or near sand can die from impaction. i lost a couple of beardies years ago to impaction and i blame calci sand for their deaths. i don't even use it for my kenyan sand boa, lol. you can get pretty much any opinion from books, the interwebs, etc, but if i were you i would listen to the people here that have real life experience. again, we aren't trying to say you aren't a good keeper, but just trying to help you keep that little guy alive and healthy for as long as possible.

 

[maggiee22195]

I agree with all the comments posted. I have a 3.5 year old male bearded dragon and he has NEVER in his 3.5 years of life been kept on anything other than newspaper or repticarpet. I made the mistake of keeping my male anole (I was 7 when I did this) on red sand and he got impacted, and got sand in one eye which prememnently closed and then died. I will never make that mistake again because it hurt so much to lose my close pet. So now, I have a male leo who is 2 and he has always been on paper towel.
I think you know this from all of the comments posted but, we absolutely DO NOT want your pet to die because of something like this that can be prevented. Yes, he may not die from impaction, but why take the risk? i know it may also sound like some of us are coming off strong but it is what can really happen and everyone including myself are trying to help save your very nice looking fattie. Pm me if you need any help or any other info. Good luck to you and your adorable fattie! Just please consider taking your fattie off the sand, just so that you don't even have to second guess or risk his health!
Happy herping! I hope I helped a little!

 

[goReptiles]

Calcium sand is the worst and has been proven not to break down in stomach acid, much less water.

They took stomach-like acid and put it on calcium sand, and it took weeks to disappear, which is plenty of time for an impaction buildup.

Calcium sand entices reptiles to lick, and since it doesn't dissolve in a quick time nor does it properly pass, it has been proven the worst.

If youre going to use sand, very done play sand is so much better, although way too dry for aft's. These guys need more humidity, and the lack thereof will cause illness.