Gecko Cage Bedding

Video Transcript

"The next thing we're going to talk about today is the substrate that your leopard gecko is going to go on. What's substrate? Well, we reptile people like to call the bedding in the aquarium substrate. It sounds a little bit more fancy and high tech. What we're just talking about here is bedding. O.k. Now there's a couple of different beddings that I recommend. I recommend, like say, a Douglas Fir Bark or a large wood chip bark. O.k. Something big enough the leopard gecko can't eat it or I'm going to recommend the coco fiber which is basically a shredded coconut husk. O.k. It comes in a brick usually. Runs around three to four dollars. Very inexpensive. And this is going to expand out into more than enough to do your fifteen gallon tank. You soak it in warm water and let it sit for half an hour. Now a lot of people are going to want to use sand for the leopard gecko. I don't recommend sand. I don't recommend sand for any, any kind of lizard. Because it causes what is called impaction. Most sands that you're buying on the market, even the calcium sands, are going to be manmade items that when you put them under a microscope, they're going to be square rather than being spherical like natural sand is. What happens is the animal ingests this slowly over time and it starts to build up in the stomach. It's kind of like playing Tetris inside your reptile. Eventually it causes what's called impaction. They can't properly use the bathroom and they eventually die. So, now this sort of thing, sometimes people will tell you, oh, I've never had a problem. I've kept my leopard gecko on sand forever. Well it's always a risk. And for me, my pet, something that I love, I don't want to take that risk. So I'd much prefer it not to use sand, and I would much prefer that most people out there didn't as well."