My new Leopard Gecko and its little house.

jbaines · #1 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 09:13 AM

Hi all, Ive had my young Gecko a couple of days now. It seems happy enough. Ive fed him both days and hes gone for the food as soon as its moved and he wanders arround the cage alot and tries to climb up the side, mostly sliding on the plastic. (I assume he's just curious. Its not some sort of indication that theres a problem with the enviroment is it?)
I only got one hide with the set up so I'm going to buy another today or tomorow, Ive read in one book there shouldnt be any moist/humid areas in the cage, and in another you should spray the hide at the cool end with water every day, any ideas?
Im worried its getting to cold at night too. I work night shift and when I leave the house arround 8:00pm-ish the temp reads low 80's but when I get in about 7:00am-ish its down to arround 76/77.

The enclsure so far has a calcium carbonate substrate, a water pool thing to drink from and a half coconut-shell hide. It seems a bit bare to me, I'd be bored. Is there anything els they should have?

Moosmoo · #2 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 09:20 AM

get rid of the sand, esp if its a hatchling... it can cause impaction.... we use a mix of kitchen roll and slate

everything sounds ok to me but with the hide we give ours a little bit of moss in one of the hides just to help with shedding if they need it...

hope this helps

purpleskyes · #3 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 09:22 AM

In ours we have a hide on the warm side, a hide on the cool side and a moist hide that we respray every 2-3days to make sure it stays moist. Food dish, calcuim dish and water bowl. Sand is a very bad thing especially for babies we keep all ours on kitchen roll

Amyboo · #4 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 09:25 AM

Hey
yeah take it off the sand. wont do it much good if it eats that

dont worry about it climbing up the wall, probably just exploring, ours have got in to the habbit lately of sleeping half way up the wall and a plant lol! silly things. If you have only had it for a few days its still probably a bit confused as to where it is.
Hope everything goes well with it

oooo btw what have you called it?
Amy x

jbaines · #5 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 09:34 AM

cheers for the quick reply, is it safe to use moss from the garden/woods or can you buy clean stuff? Glad you think the temp sounds fine.
I want to clear this up (but probably wont) because theres alot of conflicting views. Sand and compaction.
On one hand ive got a book written by breeders with 40 years experience, my shop with many years experience and I know they have a good reputation (Animal Allsorts, Newcastle), and a couple of other owners who say that using substrate is fine (calcium carbonate is supposed to be eadible for reptiles). On the other hand Ive got experienced owners and you yourself have a shop i believe (what I'm getting at its people with equal experience) telling me otherwise. Has someone here had impaction from substrate? (not personally obveously but please tell if you have had it personally, I used to mix sand into my yogourt when I was a todler, I'm OK I think...)

Moosmoo · #6 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 09:35 AM

well theres a lot of debate regarding sand and impaction... if you search the forums you should find some threads which may be helpful to you... like pros and cons and stuff

and yeah you should be able to buy small bags of moss from your local reptile shop, we buy the big bags tho cos we have a lot of reps that like it

jbaines · #7 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amyboo

oooo btw what have you called it?
Amy x

Hasnt got a name yet, I'm going to let my girlfriend name it and she hasnt seen it yet. If she cant think of one then Leopold I think.

Amyboo · #8 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 09:38 AM

awww thats cute! hehe!
but yeah see what name she comes up with

FoxyMumma · #9 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 09:43 AM

Ive been told by some people to keep my leos on sand and obviously read on here and alot of other sites about impactions etc, tbh the question is, is it worth the risk? yes sand looks nice... its natural... they live on it in the wild... but then you would hate yourself if your leo dies from impaction, you need to weigh up the pros and cons and work out for yourself if you want to risk it
I personally will be using either lino, kitchen roll or something of the like as I wouldnt like to come down one morning to find one of mine dead from eating it just for the sake of how the viv looks or the fact theyll need cleaning out more often but thats my preference, its your decision.

Corenne x

Mal · #10 (**permalink**) 05-09-2008, 09:49 AM

There are some post mortem pics on here somewhere of a leo impacted with sand, its not very pretty. I wouldnt recommend it for hatchlings and would only use very fine sand for an adult. Leos naturally seek out calcium suppliments from their environment so are more likely to eat calci sand. I believe that forms big clumps. Im sure if you do a search on impaction you will find many threads about it and be able to make an informed decision as which substrate you want to use.

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