SuBsTrAtE

[DarkHunter]

Hey


I have my leopard gecko on Calci-Sand...I want to get her off of it b4 she gets impacted......Any suggestions other than newspaper or papertowel? I like the reptile turf....has anyone herd of it and is it okay for my gecko? Thanks guys!
HUNTER

[RepTylE]

I have just been using newspaper for years, Dark. It's easy to clean and saves time. I lost my first leo because she got impacted from being on bark. Of course at the time being a newbie I didn't know alot about substrates. I do remember being heartbroken at the time though.
Fortunately for you, you have this forum to find out these things. You can always put her on newspaper until you get the info that you need and be on the safe side.

[sSNAKESs.com]

Sure I dont see why the reptile turf would be bad for your gecko... Find out which corner she is using as her personal bathroom and just set down a piece of paper towel in that corner for easy clean up! just toss and replace the paper towell and you wont have to clean the repti carpet as much!

[beth wallbank]

you could also use ceramic tiles found at any hardware building center. Find one with a bit of a texture to it so the dont slip and slide, and they are found in some nice earth tone colours.

[drewlowe]

i agree with beth try to go for the ceramic tile or they call it slate. Very easy to clean up and it looks great too. For my 20 gal long It cost under 10 bucks and i will only have to replace them if i break one. Yea!!! that saves me from having to replace the substrate every year.

[jay76]

How old is your leo? I've been using calcisand for my adult male and he does great on it. Of course he eats big crickets and has actually gotten good at catching them the first time, so he doesn't grab any (or as much) sand as a small leo would going after 1/4 inchers...

Hmmm... I tried repticarpet with my young girls, and the only real disadvantage I found with it was that they kept getting caught on the fibers while chasing their food. I know I'm not the only one to have had that happen. It needs to be cleaned often too, but Jeff's paper towel idea would certainly stretch the time intervals.

[Kappa]

Sorry im posting under my boyfriends log in im at his house but its Shannon....
Jay - I was told she apx 2 years old. She seems to being doing fine on calci-Sand also but...better safe than sorry i'd rather switch now...
Jeff- That sounds good, but do you think the slate would be a better idea and then doing the same thing with the paper towel?

How well will my undertank heater work with slate? will this be an issue? Thanks for all the patients guys...im learning!!
~hunter

[Mr.Lizard]

I've also used ceramic tiles(with a slight texture),they are indeed real easy to clean up. My concern would be for the coolness.
If you're using a lamp or heat emitter over the tile it will heat up nicely though.
Right now I'm using a sealed wooden bottom and is just as easy to clean and not so cool where the lamp doesn't shine.
It does absorb a nice amount of heat too.
I'm considering the turf in the future for the sake of comfort but I have a monitor and being larger is not as likely to catch her toes in the fabric.
Good Luck

[eyespy]

I hate calcisand!! I've seen nearly as many impaction surgeries from calcisand as from playsand and considering how very few herps are actually kept on the stuff that makes the impaction risk quite high.

Here's a study about how calcisand is actually not processed by the gut:

http://www.pythons.com/calcium.html