After much reading on substrate, moisture, and shedding I am worried about Annie's home. My little leopard gecko is shedding right now. Her sub. is all sand and her little cave has no moisture. As it is day here she is sleeping as well as we just brought her to our home last night. Will it be to upsetting to wake her and change her home right now? The kids are all sleeping and I have a quiet house at the moment.

Thanks Jackie

Hello,

You can leave him for the night with no ill effects.

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Just take a peice of paper towel, fold it up, wet it, and place it in the cave. It should provide enough moisture.
I would definitely get rid of the sand immediately.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

You might want to check out this link: http://reptileguides.herpcenter.com/...151.html?t=151
Having a moisty hide will really benefit your new gecko, make sure you check the toes and tail tip for any retained shed when she's done shedding, if left unchecked it can cause some problems.

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I've redone her home and I think I have a happy little girl. One good thing is I found a very good reptile store. It is the only one in Calgary. They suggested a very good sub. and also showed me some live tomato caterpillers. I bought one for Annie. Well she ran out of her house and ate it so fast I was amazed. I'm going to give her one every couple of days. They also said if I ate one That they would give me 10$ so I did Ha Ha. Wasn't so bad. Got ten bucks now.

What substrate did they suggest?

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I was wondering the same thing.
Since we already know what they usually push!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Rich and Merlin

What do they usually push?

This is what he said - There is nothing wrong with sand make sure it is clean and not dusty "just because one or two lizards had a hard time of it on sand everyone blows it out of proportion. Millions of lizards live out in the wild every day on sand and are just fine." Even though he told me this I chose Ground English Walnut Shell. I liked the look and it is very clean. Annie loves it she spent a half an hour in the middle of the day just pushing her little fingers in it. He also said to hold her as much a possible even during the day. Most of his geckos are now up and about during a portion of the day. This dose not bother them at all. They use Ground english walnut shell in their store. All their reptiles looked very healthy and clean. Their food was very cheep (crickets 2.50 for 50) and he was bang on about the tomato caterpillar.

Still not a good choice. Not only is it not natural for a gecko but it causes impaction and some of the shells have sharp edges that can injure the animal.

Cracked Wallnut Shells?
compaction?
Need help with substrate

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!

Hello,

I currently own and breed Leopard Geckos. At this present time, I own 15 of the little buggers. I can assure you, he was VERY wrong in the info that he shared with you.

The first thing I want to share is that you are currently using a substrate that is niether natural or safe. Toss a handful of those crushed walnuts in your mouth and start chewing. Do you see the problem with them?

Those things are much larger than sand grains, carry a higher impaction risk, and have jagged edges that could potentially cut the insides of your Leopard Geckos intestines.

Now lets jump back on the sand. Sand isn't their "natural" substrate in the wild. This person you spoke with should have known that seeing as he stated that millions of them live on it there. Leopard Geckos reside in the sparse grasslands and mountaneous regions of their locales. The substrate is closer to clay than anything else.

He stated millions of them reside on it without an issue. Did he happen to provide you with a site showing the statistics for the number of the Leopard Geckos that die "in the wild" as a result of an impaction? We both know that isn't possible as no study could ever exist. If a leo died in the wild as a result of an impaction, how would we know? How do you know millions don't die each year in the wild as a result of an impaction from various things?

You said his animals were healthy living on the walnut shell. Do you think he would leave the dead or dying reptiles on the main floor for everyone to see? Of course not. If he has/had any animals that have died, they have been disposed of. All you will ever see, if the people are watching closely, are the healthy animals. Injured, sick, or dead animals are not displayed. That is bad for business.

Here is a quote from our caresheet:

Your leo may be fine for years, and then poof, suddenly up and dies on you. Would you spring for a necropsy to find out why your leo died? lets say he was 8 years old when he passed. How many people have lost a leo around 8-9 years of age and just dismissed it as old age? TONS have! Little do they realize, that leo almost reached HALF of its life expectancy when it died. So those people, the ones using sand, that lost a leo at 9 years old preach how safe it is when in fact it could have died from a chronic impaction as a result of the sand! lol See my point?

A pet store employee or owners job is to sell you things. its a business. They will say and preach just about anything if it makes a sale. (This isn't true for all employees and owners, just the majority.)

You also get some employees that have never even owned these animals, or are just repeating what they have learned from others in the store. Even if what they learned was inaccurate to begin with.

Those of us on this site that try to help others with info don't get anything out of it. We have nothing to lose by telling you not to use crushed walnuts or sand. The pet store does! They lose a sale.

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