How often do you change substrate?

[makaveli]

Just wondering how often you clean out your leo home, whether it's sand, papertowels, or slate. Mine is getting kind of stinky. I do spot cleaning once or twice aweek, but when should I change substrate? or should just wait till it gets stinky?

[Bartman]

What do you keep your leoaprd on...if its sand, take it off now and switch it to paper towl, slate, or tile. When its there for paper towl id switch it out pretty much every time the defecate. For slate or tile, id spot clean it and if you cant do it really well then just rinse it everytime you see 2 or 3 defecations (if thats a word lol)

[Dani33]

Yup, I use paper towel and change it as soon as someone poops.

[meow_mix450]

i was just wondering, do a lot of leo's, die from impaction(spelling)???just wondering cause they dont have paper towels in the wild this is jsut a thought. IMO

Meow

[makaveli]

yeah, what kind of substrate do they have inthe wild, soil?

[meow_mix450]

but whatever your using, you should change every 2 months, from what i have heard.

Meow

[Bartman]

from what i understand in the while they mostly live on slate rock and maybe once in a while come by sand but they do not live in the saharah for example. A species like uromastyx live in deserts where there is a sea of sand...they have adapted to being able to have some sand go through there systems everyonce in a while. While leopards cant pass sand through there systems very well, this leads to impaction. That is why i said to take any leopards off sand asap.

[Siretsap]

Actually the leopard gecko will be in contact with sand every day in the wild.
As for usomastix, most live in dirt, digging deep holes sometimes reaching more than 5 feet in depth.

If you keep your leos on sand, watch them, always have a pot of calcium available since they will lick it instead of eating the sand or earth if they lack nutriments.

I have kept my leos on sand for almost 2 years, decided to change it all cause of the dirt that got in the air. We did have to keep 2 leos out of the dozen we have because they would eat the sand, then agian they eat everything from sand, dirt, vermiculite, cocout mulch, chestnut grain to sphagnum moss. The only thing they didn't eat is the news paperl cause they never can get a bite out of it.

[meow_mix450]

ha ha thanks guys, just wondering.

Meow

[Dark_Angel_25]

well my AFT just pooped monday. we bought him Saturday., the store kept him on sand.. hispoop was FULL of it. and it was the calci-sand.. the so called "ok" sand. That is a crock of crap. he can't poop unless he is soaked, so until ALL the sand has passed.. I have to watch him ver closesly.

[meow_mix450]

ya well im glad it was able to poop that out, but it all depends on the leo, if it would be smart enough to eat the sand or not, but i hhope it feels better, ive never had a leo, but ive had a beardie, and impaction is a biggy. but yes the best choice is paper towel or even tiles, like you suggested in some threads

Meow

[Dark_Angel_25]

Meow: it wasn't eating the sand... it was gettng the sand in its system from the cricekts.. when they strike to eat a cricket, well whatever sand is stuck on the bug goes in the stomach. people don't realise that when they say sand is ok. They figure the animal isn't eating the sand, so no problem... but it is.. if the cricket eats the sand, then your leo is eating the sand. if your cricket has sand under its wings or stuck to its body, guess what the leo is eating the sand again. in this case too, it is a 1 year or more African Fat Tail, who has calcium in the diet (in a cup and dusted)
All I am saying is the risk you take using sand for any animal isn't worth it, IF you really care about the animal...
Just my $0.02

[meow_mix450]

very true, never put in that way, thanks, ddnt mean it to be offence in anyway if you thought it was lol, but yes your right, agree, wut do you think of bed a beast??? it can still cause impaction, if a lot is taken in, but it wouldnt get on the crikets, jsut wondering youor thougts

Meow