Sand For Loes

[Ghost]

why are people so against sand when in the wild leopard gecko live on sand?

 

[Sunrise Reptile]

This is why.

 

[sunshinegeckofarm]

Yep. to me its best to be safe than sorry, i have spent too much money to lose my animals to poor husbandry. Also I have heard in the wild leos live on hard clay and also the captive bred leos dont have the smarts that wild ones do. tiles, papertowels, carpet, newspaper are all great to use for them

 

[Tony C]

Their natural substrate is not truly sand, it is usually a hard-packed, dry clay soil, with some sand present of course. That being said, I believe that the impaction issue is way overblown and healthy, well hydrated animals with access to proper basking temperatures are unlikely to become impacted from sand.

 

[Jheuloh]

why are people so against sand when in the wild leopard gecko live on sand?

A desert may indeed have sand, but that may not necessarily be what the animals are actually living on. Of course, many deserts at least have some sand, but remember that most of the world's deserts are presented through the media - an evil which you can only trust as far as you can toss it.

Regarding the topic of sand as a living space;

Here, usually sand tends to be equatable to poor husbandry. 'Poor husbandry' in this case more often than not equates to an animal that's starving/dehydrating, living in an environment with no escape from extreme temperatures, etc.

Sand itself also seems to have a stigma attached to it, which doesn't seem to hold true Eco Earth & similar Coconut husk fiber substrates.

 

[phoneguy]

This is why.

That says it all!!!

 

[Gregg M]

I believe that the impaction issue is way overblown and healthy, well hydrated animals with access to proper basking temperatures are unlikely to become impacted from sand.

Well said!!!:main_thumbsup:

 

[LizMarie]

Because that's the wild where is natural and this is captivity where everything is fake, ugh. A lot of people don't use natural sand like the one used in the wild they usually use from synthetic sand most likely from calcium and some junk that actually gets clumpy while wet.

I'm not totally NO SAND, NO WAY! I just believe people should be educated and look at the products they use and make an educated decision on what's best. I personally don't use it because it seems unhygienic, messy and I want to make absolutely positive there's no cause for impaction even if the risk is 1%.

Did I mention pricey. The way I am I would be switching sand out every 3 days, lol.

 

[adam&nikki]

Yep. to me its best to be safe than sorry, i have spent too much money to lose my animals to poor husbandry. Also I have heard in the wild leos live on hard clay and also the captive bred leos dont have the smarts that wild ones do. tiles, papertowels, carpet, newspaper are all great to use for them

as i read this post of sand or not to sand this caught my eye !

how does a captive bred leo not have the smarts like their will ansectors? this is very confusing to me cuz us as a human have thoughts when small like feeding eating and sleeping so does a cative bred leo and so does a wild leo the fact that we hosue them in our living rooms beed rooms or where every we have them we like to make them think they are as close to their wild habitats as possible yes they are fed from use placeing crickets in or having meal worms on a plate for them but the fact is is they still think that they are in a wild enviroment and basically they are minus the preditors and harsh temperatures.

as for impaction does anyone really know what the ratio is for wild leos to get impacted? they live in desserts in afganistan pakistan which is full of sand hard packd clay rocks and so forth if they get impacted anywhere shouldnt this be the place it would happen? i think as long as there is proper temps clean fresh water there shouldnt be any worries

 

[Yamori]

The link is about Calci sand impation, not natural sand.
With natural sand if propper husbandry is used and your animals are always well hydrated you will never have any issies. A great deal of keepers/breeders (myself included) have used sand for many years and never had an issie.

The whole Sand is evil and will cause impaction is nothing more than untruths and misconceptions, Do the research and make educated choices instead of making decisions based on hype and and popular beliefs.

lol and yes, where they are native to there is sand everywhere. Do you really think they stay on the rocks 24 /7 to avoid getting impacted. The terrain in that part of the world is steep-sloped with mountains and ranges . There are also many fertile valleys and plains in the south-southwest, not to mention the great stretches of desert, most of the land is dry, dusty/sandy.

 

[im faster]

where do you buy your natural sand