One of these debates comes up every year on here and I usually just stay out of it but what the heck.
Yes, it is possible to keep leopard geckos on play sand. I know this to be true because I've had my original pair living on it for 19 years now and I've had no issues what so ever. Here's the thing, there's a lot of careless people out there who don't do their research and that's when problems occur. These are the same folks that have ruined it for the rest of us responsible keepers and that's why care sheets say not to use sand. Healthy leopard geckos are very reluctant to get impactions because they have no reason to eat substrate to gain essential vitamins and minerals. In other words feed them correctly and dust their foods and you shouldn't have any issues. Yes, they can ingest sand while diving after crickets but they will pass it just like they would in the wild. Now of course if you want to play it totally safe then use something that is impossible to ingest like ceramic tile or slate. Oh yeah, I would never keep babies and juveniles on sand. I only keep my adults on it.
Oh and Muffy, yes my geckos like to dig. They often dig out burrows under some of the fake rocks in their tank. That's why I like to use a substrate they can interact with. I feel there's no reason to take away a natural instinct.
By the way, my substrate isn't entirely sand. It's a mixture of about 75% sand and 25% Eco Earth/peat moss.
Yes, it is possible to keep leopard geckos on play sand. I know this to be true because I've had my original pair living on it for 19 years now and I've had no issues what so ever. Here's the thing, there's a lot of careless people out there who don't do their research and that's when problems occur. These are the same folks that have ruined it for the rest of us responsible keepers and that's why care sheets say not to use sand. Healthy leopard geckos are very reluctant to get impactions because they have no reason to eat substrate to gain essential vitamins and minerals. In other words feed them correctly and dust their foods and you shouldn't have any issues. Yes, they can ingest sand while diving after crickets but they will pass it just like they would in the wild. Now of course if you want to play it totally safe then use something that is impossible to ingest like ceramic tile or slate. Oh yeah, I would never keep babies and juveniles on sand. I only keep my adults on it.
Oh and Muffy, yes my geckos like to dig. They often dig out burrows under some of the fake rocks in their tank. That's why I like to use a substrate they can interact with. I feel there's no reason to take away a natural instinct.
By the way, my substrate isn't entirely sand. It's a mixture of about 75% sand and 25% Eco Earth/peat moss.
