Gecko Substrate Tips & Advice

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Johan Svahnström on behalf of expertvillage. Now it's time to pick your substrate for your, your bottom substrate for your leopard gecko. There are several different things you can use. A lot of people use sand. And a lot of people use a commercial grade leopard gecko substrate you can buy in a pet store. I prefer to use aspen bedding. Aspen is great. I use it for all my reptiles; snakes, lizards, even turtles. As long as it's not a tropical turtle that needs a lot of moisture, or a tropical snake or so forth. The benefits with the aspen is that it's easy to find, you don't have to sterilize it like you do with some sands that you have to get, and if the lizards actually digest it, it doesn't hurt them because it's natural. It's very soft. The sand looks good, it looks kind of more natural than this, but they can get impacted if they get it in with their insects and so forth. The aspen bedding is really nice stuff to use. This particular brand here is really compacted, so you gotta kind of take chunks out of it. Get it right down into your tank, your enclosure. You don't need to use too much when it comes to the leopard geckos because they do not dig. You know, you just kind of need to cover the surface of the bottom of the tank. Kind of spread it out a little bit, like this. Now, this particular aspen is kind of like a long-grained aspen. You can get it also where it's smaller particles. I use both, there's really no difference in how good or bad they are. A little bit more. Make sure it covers the whole bottom of the tank. A little bit more. Alright. Another benefit with the aspen bedding is its real light, it's easy to see anything on it. It's easy to see the fecal matter laying on top of the aspen, and it's also easy to see the insects for the lizards, the insects they're going to eat, and it's easy to see for the owner, as well. If some insects run around, you have some worms crawling around there or something you don't want in there, it's easy to see because it's such a light surface. Once you're done with your substrate, it's time to find some suitable cage furniture for the lizard."