# best substrate for leopard gecko?



## geckoman90 (Jun 11, 2012)

Hi im new to the forum, i have owned my leopard gecko know for over a year and was told that calci sand was the best option to use from our local pet shop, after looking on google it seems the pet shop couldnt be more wrong, i know want to change the calci sand for something safe but dont like the idea of paper towels or newspaper, i have so far found reptile carpet, floor tiles and lino as an option which is the best to use my tank is heated by a heat mat and 60w red heat buld controlled by a thermostat i dont want to use anything that might have a chance of catching fire ect or harmful odours.Please help asap as i have just bought another leopard gecko and have heard awful stories of impaction due to calci sand so i want to take action straight away in finding a good substrate.


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## Mcadam1222 (May 17, 2012)

geckoman90 said:


> Hi im new to the forum, i have owned my leopard gecko know for over a year and was told that calci sand was the best option to use from our local pet shop, after looking on google it seems the pet shop couldnt be more wrong, i know want to change the calci sand for something safe but dont like the idea of paper towels or newspaper, i have so far found reptile carpet, floor tiles and lino as an option which is the best to use my tank is heated by a heat mat and 60w red heat buld controlled by a thermostat i dont want to use anything that might have a chance of catching fire ect or harmful odours.Please help asap as i have just bought another leopard gecko and have heard awful stories of impaction due to calci sand so i want to take action straight away in finding a good substrate.


Hi there and welcome to the forum, I have my leo on sand and I have found no problem with it. A lot of people will now say "dont use sand as it will cause impaction". If your leopard gecko is not a baby, I really dont find any problems with sand, there is also many other keepers that keep them on sand with no problem. Hope this helps


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## geckoman90 (Jun 11, 2012)

Hi i was just a bit worried as i have just got another female leo who is a year old and i have been looking on google about calci sand/grit and have seen alot of bad press about it, i have never had any problems with my first leo who has had calci sand from when she was a baby, just interested in the reptile carpet but my leos seem to like digging and repalcing the sand with carpet would stop this and i was told it was a natural instict of theres too dig.


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## ConnorTrussell (Apr 5, 2012)

I keep mine on paper towel, doesnt look good but they're in tubs, if you want a natural viv look, use carpet or play sand


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## Mcadam1222 (May 17, 2012)

geckoman90 said:


> Hi i was just a bit worried as i have just got another female leo who is a year old and i have been looking on google about calci sand/grit and have seen alot of bad press about it, i have never had any problems with my first leo who has had calci sand from when she was a baby, just interested in the reptile carpet but my leos seem to like digging and repalcing the sand with carpet would stop this and i was told it was a natural instict of theres too dig.


Yes I understand what you mean but if you have not had any problems with it then I would just keep it in. I dont use cali sand, I use the exo terra desert sand and my leo loves the digging as well, It also makes it look good as well:2thumb:


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## dramen (May 29, 2012)

If your really that worried about sand so your personal preference is to no longer use it then there are other viable solutions.

Repti Carpet :- Not bad if your gecko isnt still learning to hunt, They do tend to bite it and the food escapes whilst they unstick themselves.

Tiles :- Nice looking, easy to clean but could be costly.

Lino :- The one i personally use as there's a few carpet shops in my town so theres always offcuts available at cheap prices (I got my current piece nicked out my dads loft lol!), Really easy to clean and nowhere for food to hide if fitted snugly. WARNING :- There has been issues with self adhesive tiles creating fumes so would recommend avoiding self adhesive.

Sand is a point of arguement with no actual scientific fact and more based on chinese whispers. I do see how younger geckos can get impacted from sand due to their inability to aim and would undoubtedly swallow the sand in the process (Learnt from watching my gecko).
Older gecko would generally be less exuberant at launching at prey and less likely to eat the sand being that also the prey is larger than a young geckos.
An option with sand is geckos dont randomly just start eating the sand (at least i havent heard of it) so you can always move them to another area to feed them. 

Ultimately go with what you and your gecko feel comfortable with


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## geckoman90 (Jun 11, 2012)

Hi thanks for the replies, i have just bought some reptile carpet enough to do a 40 gallon tank for £8 and now looking for some lino i think my nan has a load spare in the loft:2thumb: so i think ill start with the lino and go from there, when i bought my gecko she was really active but know she isnt and wont chase her food well i have never seen her do it anymore and i was wondering if the sand has anything to do with this, she is about a year and half old and weights 76g.


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## dramen (May 29, 2012)

As a further note i use both heatmat and heatlamp with lino and the temperatures you need for the leopard gecko will never reach burning level. As i stated in my previous post my only concern would be if you use the self adhesive as that could cause issues.

With the feeding issue have you tried her with mealworms to vary your geckos diet? (These can be left in a escape proof bowl overnight)
Is the gecko pooping as normal?
Has the gecko shed recently?
Do you normally feed your gecko daily? (They do slow down and only need feeding every couple of days at 7-10 months but some start later)

Being that you have owned your gecko for over a year you probably already knew to check this but everyone asks these questions


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## geckoman90 (Jun 11, 2012)

Hi yes she is shedding and pooing ok I feed her daily leaving mealworms in a dish and put locust in every know and again. I have both heat light and heat mat I have together tank heated to around 85-90 at hot end on a thermostat and about 72-75 cool end just a bit worried thought it might have something to do with the sand. Thanks


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## dramen (May 29, 2012)

If shes pooping fine i would have said its not impaction but i am new to reptiles myself so dont quote me on it.

From what i have read though a gecko at the age of yours doesnt eat every day and that might be whats happening. The food isnt being chased because your gecko is not hungry.

I would keep an eye on her and keep the mealworms 24/7 and only give other live food every 2 days. From what i have read on these forums that seems to be the advice in this situation


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## Gregg M (Jul 19, 2006)

Keep in mind that impaction is the result of poor husbandry, not substrate.


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## Dan-lincs (Nov 15, 2010)

try feeding it every other day, and dont worry about it, ive found when they get older they are less inclined to chase them during the evening but will polish them off overnight, sometimes they just get lazy when they get older.


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## HalfPsychotic (Jun 6, 2012)

When i first got my baby leo i had her on the reptile carpet, but found that the heat mat under it wasn't providing a hot enough temp. The carpet did look good, but also it got covered in calcium powder etc and looked messy really quickly. My leo also seemed to walk funny on the carpet, like really picking her feet up lol i guess it was a weird feeling for her or something.

I swapped the carpet for white kitchen towel which is so much easier to replace when cleaning and it doesn't look half bad. It's easier to spot the poos on white paper which makes spot cleaning so much faster. Most importantly, because the towel is thinner than reptile carpet, the heat mat gave a much better temp in her hot hide. In my opinion, my leo seems happier on the paper towel than what she did on carpet. 

Although the pet shop had all their leo's on sand in the shop, i'm just easily scared by the horror stories of impaction so i'm not sure if i'll ever use sand just in case!


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## geckoman90 (Jun 11, 2012)

Hi thanks for the reply i think that im going to go with lino as alot of people seem to use it and its easily cleaned aswell, im definatley getting rid of the sand as im scared about the risks of impaction especialy when i have just got another leo that was brought up on kitchen roll.So i will be off to my nans asap to get some lino put in, in place of the sand as my leos have a tendancy to walk through there water bowl and knock it all over and im fed up of mealworms escaping into the sand.


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