Providing grit to chew on?

[ketz]

Hey everyone,

I was just checking out some care sheets online and I noticed in the housing section of this one: http://www.vmsherp.com/LCKeepingLeopards.htm

It says that you should provide a bowl of grit so your gecko can chew on it to help digest. I've never heard of this before and I've been keeping my gecko for about 7 years. Anyone else hear of this?

 

[Quah]

I'm curious about this also. Is what it says about meal-worms true? I heard they were fine as a feeder although variety is always recommended.

 

[Mel&Keith]

There will always be conflicting information on care sheets. You have to take most of the information with a grain of salt. I'll go out on a limb and say that most Leopard gecko keepers do not provide "grit" to "help digestion", many feed exclusively mealworms and that their geckos are just fine.

Females will eat loose substrate while gravid a lot of times but they're usually looking for extra calcium or vitamins. Keeping a bowl of calcium in the tank seems like a more logical choice than sand to me.

 

[Snowy & Petra de Gecko]

It sounds like Krap

I have never heard about giving Grit to a Gecko Lizard.

I know that Birds, in general, need Grit but, I do not know about a Gecko Lizard.

I have not even EVER read anything on any of those Websheets for Gecko Care nor have I EVER read anything about it the six or seven Gecko Books that I have read.

So it has to be an Urban Myth.

Now you do need a source of Calcium in a dish but, that is not for digestion.

Now I have not heard anything about Meal Worms.

 

[kaikara]

Adding grit is what these guys are doing with their mixes and they seem pretty successful. This is why i think all of the debate over sand is pretty played out.

Here is a video showing them putting together their mix.

http://www.youtube.com/user/sasobek11#play/all/uploads-all/1/-PuC7EMWDYo