Myth or truth - cant be

[henward]

small crushed stone, very fine or sandy substrate
iin the wild, these animals live in rocky, sandy and soily areas.
is it possible that its actually harmfull for them?

what age is suitable for a sandy substrate for leopards?

 

[whkrazyk]

im not touching this one lol

 

[henward]

lol whyh?
its funny because they say that about bearded dragons, water dragons and even some large lizards
and im thinking, in the wild, they dont have carpet... or papertowels

i had a bearded dragon from hatchling, and i fed it full sized crickets, instinctively, they rip it up. in the wild, these will go for any thing that moves!

 

[whkrazyk]

my first time on this site i noticed how the people who posted pics of sand in their tanks got ripped up, so i immediatly changed them to paper towels b4 taking any pics lol

 

[Lena]

In the wild they live on very compact ground. It's not like loose sand dunes! The chances of them scooping the stuff up with their meal are little to none.. As opposed to the loose substrates you buy at pet stores.

When it comes down to it.. If you REALLY insist upon being naturalistic, use tile. It's pretty much the closest thing there is - to scale.

 

[henward]

well, thats funny
see, here in NZ wherei am from, sometimes you get ripped up for having certain things in your fish tanks. but i have been keeping fish for ages, and ikonw what works

but with reptiles, it just doesnt make sense that people say sand isnt good

HAS ANYONE ACTUALLY HAVE A GECKO DIE COS OF SAND?

do you know its the sand not something else?

i hear of people saying fish died due to bad food or filter failure but its just something else.

 

[Riyo]

If you do a little searching on this forum, you will find people who have had geckos die of impaction or even need surgery to remove the sand from their bellies. There is also a website with some pictures on it of a gecko that died of impaction..in the dissection you can clearly see the amount of sand in it's stomach. I've also seen xrays of leos and beardies with sand impaction ..so..

Personally, I'd rather not take the risk. Also, sand is so much harder to clean and it's expensive in the long run.

EDIT: Found the website.. http://homepage.mac.com/exoticdvm/reptile/PhotoAlbum181.html (warning, graphic images of dissection)

 

[henward]

fair enough
i just find that strange, that even though people say that int he wild they have compacted sand etc. thats not always the case im sure, just one of those things i guess that i find curious.

 

[THE WHISPERER]

HAS ANYONE ACTUALLY HAVE A GECKO DIE COS OF SAND?

If you search around on this forum you'll find that several people have had their gecko's die from this. Do you honestly think that there's that many people on this forum telling people not to use sand because we just feel like being mean? People share info here so that others don't have to find things out the hard way like they did. people tell you to use calcium so your gecko doesn't get MBD, People tell you to quarantine your new gecko's so they don't transfer parasites or diseases, People tell you to use an UTH so your gecko can digest its food properly, etc. etc. do you think people make this stuff up just to be mean or because they have nothing better to do.

http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...5637-what-sand-can-do-your-leopard-gecko.html(scroll down and watch the video)

This doesn't look like something I would risk my gecko's life for.

 

[henward]

fair enough
i have paper towels are per everyones advice
but i was just wondering, you see it doesnt make for an attractive enclosure, doesnt look natural you see thats why.

How about soil?

 

[THE WHISPERER]

have you seen some of the tile set ups on here they look pretty nice:main_yes:

 

[henward]

no, havent seen that. i am bad with searching in forums lol

links would be great
what type of tiles? floor tiles?

what type of natural looking substrate CAN i use thats safe?
Topsoil? unfertilised of course
i want to have a cage thatlooks natural thats all

 

[Alliemac]

Mine is not the most natural tile but I think it looks good.

 

[shawn119]

No soil.

 

[Mungall]

one of my leo enclosures with tile.

 

[Gregg M]

The impaction argument is getting so old... Honestly, geckos do not die from sand impaction... Sand impaction is a secondary issue brought on by a primary problem or sickness... Lets leave it at that...

In the wild they live on very compact ground. It's not like loose sand dunes! The chances of them scooping the stuff up with their meal are little to none.

This is exactly the type of info that you find in caresheets that are written by people against loose substrates...

The fact of the matter is, leos live in a variety of soil types through out their range... It goes from hard packed dirt covered with loose sandy soil to conditions that are infact dune like... The chances of them scooping up dirt and sand particles is great... Infact this is how a lot of reptiles get certain vitamins and minerals they otherwise would not get from prey alone... Some even do this purposely...
Its great to give info, just be sure it is correct info and not some junk found on caresheets...

 

[henward]

gregg: i am more on your side
pakistan deserts is not all compacted soil
most deserts have lose sandy substrate to soil to rocks. I mean why do they have sands storms? if it was tightly packed, then you would never have this lol

i do appreciate everyones views though dont get me wrong, i am likin the differing opinions.

 

[Neill]

I just decided better safe then sorry. I took out my sand for tile I like it. Much easier to clean. Will save you a ton of money! The sand costs you like 10 bucks a bag! need about a bag every 2 months (for one cage)! Yeah i like tile!

 

[henward]

ok, how bout if i use natural rocks and sheets of rocks, stones and stuff, large pieces and put them to cover the ground, so it mimics more of its natural environment of a rocky dry grassland type of habitat, and in the middle of the ricks, putting some crushed rock in there to fill in the gaps. so not too much fine crushed rock.

would that be ok?
according to wikipedia, they avoid dunes if possible. but generally live in a variety of habitat from grassland, dry grassland, rocky deserts

 

[Lena]

I know people have used a soil/clay/sand mixture that they mix wet then packed it down and allowed it to dry. My thing is, why take the risk when there are so many easier alternatives? Who is to say you're going to accurately recreate the animal's natural environment just by mixing this stuff together?

Anyway, leopard geckos live in places like this, rocky desert grasslands:

Not this:

Its great to give info, just be sure it is correct info and not some junk found on caresheets...

I've done a little research, Gregg. I know for a fact they don't live in sand boxes.

...And I'd like to stress that, just because someone is telling you what you want to hear, doesn't mean they're right and you should automatically side with them. :main_rolleyes: