Would crushed walnut shell sub. be OK if...

[lillith]

Seamus, are you aiming for Chaotic Good, or Chaotic Neutral?

The reason he made that post that this is a very common subject with hundreds of threads already in existence.

Use the "search" function for your substrate-in-question (whether it's rock, sand, repticarpet, tile, walnut shells, cocofiber, etc.) one at a time, and you will begin to get an idea of why the consensus is what it is.

Good luck. =)

 

[Adonis]

Seamus, are you aiming for Chaotic Good, or Chaotic Neutral?

The reason he made that post that this is a very common subject with hundreds of threads already in existence.

Use the "search" function for your substrate-in-question (whether it's rock, sand, repticarpet, tile, walnut shells, cocofiber, etc.) one at a time, and you will begin to get an idea of why the consensus is what it is.

Good luck. =)

Haha cut me a break :C! It was going on 1:00AM when I made this thread, I was too tired to go searching through the forums PLUS I had no idea that it would make three pages (the thread ended for me after the first response).

edit: I know you're not upset, I was just playing around.

 

[lillith]

I'm not upset, I just think that would be a quicker way to get your answer: search!

=)

 

[T-ReXx]

Just to answer the original question: NO.

It is safer to keep a reptile on a substrate made up of bits of broken glass and rusty nails than walnut. I wish I could track down whoever came up with that crap and slowly force feed him or her several shovel loads.

Walnut kills herps. Period.

 

[Adonis]

Just to answer the original question: NO.

It is safer to keep a reptile on a substrate made up of bits of broken glass and rusty nails than walnut. I wish I could track down whoever came up with that crap and slowly force feed him or her several shovel loads.

Walnut kills herps. Period.

ok, and thank you for staying on topic.

I had watched a video on youtube where a guy used it, and since I was too tired to second guess it, I just asked about it. I'm not going to use this substrate.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I hate the thought of using paper towel/tile, and although I know the animal's life>the way the tank looks, the aesthetics still matters to me.

Which looks better:

THIS:

OR THIS:

 

[Adonis]

Which looks better:
THIS:

OR THIS:

The second one, cause I bet they lived in a sweet ass looking tank.

Were those geckos fed crickets? I won't be feeding mine crickets, mainly because I live in an apartment building and if any of them were to escape, it wouldn't be good (also because I ****ing hate crickets). There wouldn't be any ground hunting, only on the feeding platform. I've heard stories of people using sand/loose substrate and having a separate feeding tank with no problems what so ever, so why wouldn't my system work?

 

[Tony C]

Please do not feed the troll...

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

The second one, cause I bet they lived in a sweet ass looking tank.

I won't be feeding mine crickets, mainly because I live in an apartment building and if any of them were to escape, it wouldn't be good (also because I ****ing hate crickets).

These kinds of comments make long-term experienced breeders/keepers wonder why we even bother to respond to threads like this one. You came here asking for input and advise, but don't seem to like hearing it. If you are dead-set on building your 'un-naturalistic' platform and simply want the sand to cover up the unsightly anchors, you will do it anyway... so why ask anyone?

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Sorry... fed the troll before I saw your warning.

 

[Mel&Keith]

It's pretty obvious that either a) you're trolling, or b) you just don't want to hear the answers you've been given.

Crushed walnut can and probably will be ingested even if the leopard gecko is fed in a separate area.

There are plenty of ceramic and natural stone tile options that are far more naturalistic and aesthetically pleasing.

 

[lillith]

Well, for one thing, if you use a substrate your leo can't tolerate, it's going to spend all of its time on the platform avoiding the substrate. Which could mean it does not bother to move around the enclosure for thermoregulation. He'll just stay put whether he gets too hot or too cold, which can result in digestion problems, leading to malnutrition and illness later, despite how careful you may be with feeders/supplements.

I also see a distinct lack of hides in your diagram. You need a hot side one, a cool side one, and a humid one somewhere in the middle.

But, if you want to try it, don't say we didn't try to tell you what's up.
I really do wish you luck with your gecko. But if you won't be at least a little open to what folks are trying to answer your questions with, we'll just stop answering.

I do hope you'll decide to be a little open, I'm curious what your gecko will look like. This is a fun forum, once you get used to how it rolls.
Over and out.

 

[Adonis]

It's pretty obvious that either a) you're trolling, or b) you just don't want to hear the answers you've been given.

Crushed walnut can and probably will be ingested even if the leopard gecko is fed in a separate area.

There are plenty of ceramic and natural stone tile options that are far more naturalistic and aesthetically pleasing.

Not to be rude, but did you just read the thread title and not the entire thread? I'm past using crushed walnut, that's already been discussed and resolved. People keep focusing on the substrate, when I wasn't even ASKING about that.

Once again, I'm not going to focus all my efforts in trolling a gecko forum that gets less traffic than a country road.

Well, for one thing, if you use a substrate your leo can't tolerate, it's going to spend all of its time on the platform avoiding the substrate. Which could mean it does not bother to move around the enclosure for thermoregulation. He'll just stay put whether he gets too hot or too cold, which can result in digestion problems, leading to malnutrition and illness later, despite how careful you may be with feeders/supplements.

I also see a distinct lack of hides in your diagram. You need a hot side one, a cool side one, and a humid one somewhere in the middle.

But, if you want to try it, don't say we didn't try to tell you what's up.
I really do wish you luck with your gecko. But if you won't be at least a little open to what folks are trying to answer your questions with, we'll just stop answering.

I do hope you'll decide to be a little open, I'm curious what your gecko will look like. This is a fun forum, once you get used to how it rolls.
Over and out.

I'm not disregarding what's been said (so long as it's actually been useful advice), I just wanted to see if I could use a dirt/dirt styled substrate and avoid impaction. The diagram was just to show the platform (I had a feeling that I should have added everything).

 

[Mel&Keith]

I did read the entire thread. Your last (on topic) post seemed to be wondering if loose substrate would work with a separate feeding area. So I answered that and gave a better looking and safer option.

 

[Adonis]

I did read the entire thread. Your last (on topic) post seemed to be wondering if loose substrate would work with a separate feeding area. So I answered that and gave a better looking and safer option.

You (and many others) told me that Walnuts weren't a good substrate, which was resolved in post #5 where I said that I wasn't going to be using crushed walnuts as a substrate.

I'm still wondering if there's a dirt substrate that is more solid than sand. I remember my mother having a gecko once, and the substrate looked like a compacted dirt or something (it was an orange/red colour and was easy for the gecko to walk across).

Anyway, thank you for the feedback.

 

[lillith]

Check into the substrates that some of the Europeans use. They have a very specific sand-clay-earth mix that will compact and look natural, and allow for some natural tunneling behavior. I honestly do not know what ratio and what components are in that substrate, just that the mixture has to be very, very exact. It seems like it might be difficult to try to do from scratch. I think they have a prefabricated product maybe, that we don't have here?

I'm thinking of a thread that Thorsten or Gecko Galaksen (or were in it?) posted about...2 years ago? lemme see if I can find it...

*edit* p.s. Okay, I've spent 45 minutes looking for that thread, but I can't find it at the moment...in the meantime, check out the DIY and Housing sections and do a search on the word "naturalistic"...that should get you more of the "look" you're after. Be prepared to spend a few hours going through threads. I would, but I have my evening class to get to.

 

[Adonis]

*edit* p.s. Okay, I've spent 45 minutes looking for that thread, but I can't find it at the moment...in the meantime, check out the DIY and Housing sections and do a search on the word "naturalistic"...that should get you more of the "look" you're after. Be prepared to spend a few hours going through threads. I would, but I have my evening class to get to.

All right I will, thank you for looking .

 

[wakeskate420]

I think the stuff you're looking for is the zoo med excavator clay

 

[Adonis]

I think the stuff you're looking for is the zoo med excavator clay

Yes I was. I just stumbled upon the thread that lillith was talking about (I think), and someone mentioned it in it. They said people had problems with it, so I'll be looking more into that.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Wowoklol]

I think a nice packed clay heavy dirt could work. Pretty? No. But that essentially what they live around in the wild. Staying away from the sandy areas and living within the rocks/dirt grassy lands. And yes, geckos lick a lot. Everywhere they go. That excavator clay may be more what you are looking for as I think it has a red hue. Not sure how it dries etc though. Trying to find the thread that had a picture of some hatchlings in a bucket of compacted dry dirt. I remember thinking they looked right at home. I'll try to locate it.