best bedding???

so my leopard geckos came on play sand is this a good idea???? whats the best for them
my adult dragons are on crushed walnut shell
and my baby berdies 3 weeks old r on paper towles

what does everyone else use whats the best???

Sand is very bad. If they eat crickets on it, it could cause impaction if they accidentally ingest it. I always used paper towels for my leos. I know it sounds boring...but it's so easy to clean.

I use black non-slip drawer liners for mine. Easy to clean and it looks pretty good, too. Just buy a roll of it at Walmart and cut what you need.

Kept and bred tons... I use paper towel. Do i condone using sand? NO i do not, but it isnt because of the reason everyone may think. The reason i say no, is mainly to novice gecko owners. Improper husbandry. If your husbandry sucks, the gecko will likely become impacted when using sand.

European breeders use natural substrates such as soil, sand, and coco fiber, and have done so for YEARS. Sand can harm your gecko, but 9 times out of 10, it is improper husbandry that leads to impaction.

Leopard Geckos gain their nutrients from the loose substrate material in wild, and even use it to digest food. Their niche requirements (heat and supplements) are met in the wild and ingesting small amounts of substrate will not affect them. Bad husbandry ethics like not supplementiing calcium will lead to the gecko to lick the sand to try and gain the nutrients. Proper temps play a large role also. The heat the gecko absorbs is the animals metabolism. A cold gecko cannot digest food properly and will become lethargic... mix that with a gecko ingesting sand to try and get its precious supplements... it basically becomes cement.

This isnt directed towards anyone in general, its just information that I hope will help everyone who decides to keep Leopard Geckos... and also hopefully debunking the "truth" about sand.

Ehatcher wrote:

Kept and bred tons... I use paper towel. Do i condone using sand? NO i do not, but it isnt because of the reason everyone may think. The reason i say no, is mainly to novice gecko owners. Improper husbandry. If your husbandry sucks, the gecko will likely become impacted when using sand.

European breeders use natural substrates such as soil, sand, and coco fiber, and have done so for YEARS. Sand can harm your gecko, but 9 times out of 10, it is improper husbandry that leads to impaction.

Leopard Geckos gain their nutrients from the loose substrate material in wild, and even use it to digest food. Their niche requirements (heat and supplements) are met in the wild and ingesting small amounts of substrate will not affect them. Bad husbandry ethics like not supplementiing calcium will lead to the gecko to lick the sand to try and gain the nutrients. Proper temps play a large role also. The heat the gecko absorbs is the animals metabolism. A cold gecko cannot digest food properly and will become lethargic... mix that with a gecko ingesting sand to try and get its precious supplements... it basically becomes cement.

This isnt directed towards anyone in general, its just information that I hope will help everyone who decides to keep Leopard Geckos... and also hopefully debunking the "truth" about sand.

Good points, Eric.

thanks everybody there are so many conflicting opinions on so many difrent website i though my best idea would be real ppl and that helps alot ty i will be full of questions for yall hope u dont mind my beardies got me into lizzards but i honestly dont know much and like i said all the diffrent websites just make me more confused thanks again

beardie_mom wrote:

thanks everybody there are so many conflicting opinions on so many difrent website i though my best idea would be real ppl and that helps alot ty i will be full of questions for yall hope u dont mind my beardies got me into lizzards but i honestly dont know much and like i said all the diffrent websites just make me more confused thanks again

Don't hesitate to ask! We're happy to help! Half the fun of keeping exotic pets is learning more about them and, more often than not, the brunt of the learning comes from first hand experience.