Best substrate for leopard geckos

Choosing the wrong substrate, however, can lead to illness and even death. Are you looking for the absolute best substrate for your leopard gecko?

Are you working on setting up the perfect habitat for a leopard gecko? One of the best places to start is by choosing a great substrate. Substrate has a large impact on the health and happiness of a Gecko. Picking the best Leopard Gecko substrate is hard for beginners. On top of the large number of options, it also requires knowledge of their habitat and lifestyle.

Best substrate for leopard geckos

When it comes to leopard gecko setups , one of the most asked questions is what is the best substrate for leopard gecko enclosures. This question is easily one of the most debatable questions because there are lots of variables that you need to consider. So what is the best substrate, and what do you need to consider? There are numerous things to consider. Here are some of the things to think about before selecting your substrate. There is a movement for bioactive enclosures. When you want a bioactive enclosure, you will need to have the substrate set up in the right way. This will include a substrate with a drainage layer and other aspects. Also, your substrate needs to be suitable for the cleaner crew. Availability of the substrates near you might be one deciding factor. Therefore, you might need to rely more on paper towels and other substrate options. Regardless of the long-term plans you have, the paper towel should be used for the first two to four weeks you have a new leopard gecko. Paper towel is perfect for quarantine, allowing you to check everything is okay with your gecko before moving them onto other substrates.

Best Sand.

Leopard gecko substrate is a controversial issue. Many sources recommend against using any kind of loose substrate sand, soil, etc. This is an example of folklore husbandry — popular myth and pseudoscience that have become a standard of practice in leopard gecko instead of science and facts. Here at ReptiFiles, we base our recommendations on scientific fact, not hearsay. Loose, naturalistic substrate can actually be the best kind of substrate for housing leopard geckos. A more detailed explanation is provided further down the page, which you can jump to here.

There are a lot of different substrates out there that you can use for your leopard gecko. But what is the best substrate for leopard gecko? In this definitive guide, we will go over all of the different substrates that you can use and help you decide which one is the best for your pet leopard gecko. As you may know, Leopard Geckos are ground-dwelling lizards that come from semi-desert regions of Asia. In the wild, they live on a diet of insects and other small invertebrates. In captivity, they can be fed a diet of commercially available insectivore diets as well as live insects. There are many different substrates available on the market and it can be difficult to decide which one is best for your pet. In this article, we will discuss the pros and cons of the most popular substrates for leopard geckos and help you choose the best one for your pet. There are a variety of substrates that can be used for geckos, but not all substrates are created equal.

Best substrate for leopard geckos

They are small, easy to care for, accessible, and entertaining. These nocturnal creatures are native to hot sandy areas in the Middle East region , which are typically a semi-desert climate. They eat live insects like crickets. Knowing all these facts about the Leopard Gecko makes it easier to determine what the best substrate choices are for them because their BEST habitat is one that mimics their natural environment. Leopard Gecko owners tend to feel strongly about what substrate works best for their terrariums. This is largely because substrates are such a personal choice for individual habitat goals, their climate, or their cleaning preferences. With all of this being said, read ahead to get an idea of what the best substrate choices are for Leopard Geckos! This is almost always going to be something as close to the natural habitat as possible. Similarly, if your gecko is young or prone to eat some of its substrate when it feeds, then sand or anything with small particles is not going to work either.

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Paper towels, though not as attractive in a terrarium as some other options, are one of the most popular substrates available. Some keepers have had luck with pure sand, but the previously-mentioned Excavator Clay or a similar mixture of clay, soil, and sand is generally the best way to mimic the terrain E. However, replicating the environment of the Middle East in a terrarium is expensive and not easy. Coconut fiber, coconut coir, eco earth, or simply coco has probably been one of the most debated substrate types among leopard gecko keepers. Solid waste should be removed daily, while portions of substrate that are wet with urine can also be scooped out and disposed of. The downside to paper towels is that your gecko cannot burrow in them, and they are not natural to their native habitats. However, there are a of issues. Do make sure your substances are pesticide and fertilizer-free. Our Picks. Larger smooth pebbles — or river stones — can be safely used as a natural substrate, so we used to recommend them as an option before. This also makes it easy to remove, rearrange, or stack tiles quickly. A bioactive substrate consists of several layers of gravel for drainage , soil and clay mixtures. However, the most important thing is to base the decision on solid knowledge! Personally, I would settle for two. Since this is a special type of substrate, you should follow the instructions on the packaging, although the amount of clay you will use will also depend on the structures you want to build.

Choosing a substrate can be one of the more confusing aspects of setting up a tank for leopard geckos.

Are the temps in the tank proper? However, more natural solutions work better in the long term. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Also, there are new generation loose, naturalistic substrates for bioactive setups marketed as safe for leos. The slates can be combined with the recommended loose substrates or even with paper towels in more minimalistic quarantine tanks. If you blend your own, mix it, put it in the tank, and let it sit weeks before adding your gecko. These choices will be signaled to our partners and will not affect browsing data. What are your thoughts on that? No land animal regularly walks on smooth river pebbles, so it might feel unnatural and certainly look that way, too. You can add earthenware and terracotta clay pots to your vivarium; however, they are hard to clean if they are unglazed. Leave a Comment Cancel Reply Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Measure advertising performance. Use limited data to select content.