Leopard Geckos -- what's the best type of flooring for them?

[Sunny Side Up]

My son has a lovely Leopard Gecko that he got for his birthday, he has been taking excellent care of her and loves her very much. I want to provide the best conditions for her so that she lives a good long life. What is the best material to have on the floor of her tank? Right now she has the reptile carpet, but it makes her place look like a miniature golf course.

What do you think about sand? There is the regular, the calcium-fortified, and the vitamin-fortified. Which, if any, is best?

Reggie (the gecko), Davey (my son), and I all thank you!

 

[NewHopePoultry]

I used reptile carpet for my babies and sand for the adults.
Avoid is sand with calcium in it.Its not as digestible as it claims to be and can couse problems.
I used play sand and it worked great.

 

[Stacykins]

Paper towel, or slate. You can get slate flooring at any home depot, and it is so easy to wash too.

I truly recommend against sand. Even adults can become impacted from ingesting sand. It looks more natural, but honestly, while leos may be a desert animal, their habitat is more of a rocky desert than a sandy one.

This link is to pictures of a necropsy done on an impacted leopard gecko. And this is not a juvenile. The photos are graphic, because it is a necropsy of course.

The leo should be getting calcium and vitamins on insects dusted with the supplements, not their substrate

 

[Sunny Side Up]

My son does dust Reggie's crickets with the calcium powder, we also put some on the dry cat food we feed to the crickets themselves. So Marebear recommends regular sand, while Stacykins says don't even use that. What do you mean by slate flooring? Pieces of floor tile to put on the bottom of the glass aquarium? Sounds interesting...

 

[heathersboers]

Believe it or not - plain cat litter- easy to clean- My leopard gecko is 15 years old now and that is all I have ever used- he did try to eat it at first, but quit after a day or so- hes and old man now.....all we feed him is yard crickets and grasshoppers- he is great...

 

[NewHopePoultry]

Slatetiles do work well, I forgot about those,lol.
But I still prefer sand for my adults and carpet for the young ones.

 

[PotterWatch]

I have heard some reptile people say no sand and others say they only use sand. I use sand.

 

[Stacykins]

Yep, pieces of tile flooring. Just pop out a soiled tile, give a quick scrub, and put back in. They hold heat well too.

It is truly up to you. I'd suggest looking at pros and cons of each substrate. I just have personal experience dealing with a sand impaction in an adult bearded dragon when I was new to herp keeping. He didn't die, but it took a big toll on him and there was a lot of expensive veterinary care involved. After that, he was kept on slate. If you use sand, I'd suggest your son feed the leo not in the main tank, because a leo diving after a cricket can easily get a mouthful of sand. Feeding in a separate place, such as a rubbermaid bin, ensures that you can monitor how much the leo eats in x amount of time, keep him from eating sand, and also remove excess, uneaten crickets without having to chase them down in a terrarium where they can try and hide in the humid and dry hides, or amid other landscaping.