help need advice

[latshki]

okay so I have had my female for a little more than 4 weeks
at first I went with a normal gecko setup of a 12"x32" tub with moist hide, dry hide, calci dish, water dish and UTH
but for about 2 weeks while she was in it she would stay in her moist hide and I just thought oh its because she's dehidrated needs to soak up the moisture
well I noticed when she went to eat mealies she seemed very untrusting of the paper towel so I just thought I would switch her to tile so I did so and she seemed VERY untrusting of it and was avoiding it and then became lethargic
so I finally put her in the tank and moved beefcake into a tub and he's fine
so I noticed since I have put her in the tank which I had researched their natural habitat for and has a mixture of one part mulch one part peat and one part sand, with live plants and fake with a rocky outcrop that I made
so since I put her in this tank she has one became very active, eats more than a 400lbs man so to speak and over all has increased in over well being in this enclosure

so the thing is I posted my new rock decoration on a different reptile forum
and they all keep ripping on me on how this and that and how she is going to be impacted, so firstly I did this for her well being and would other wise have her on these different substrate, also I never knew that AFT's lived on paper towel and tile in the wild
so am I being a good keeper of my animals or am I just imagining her getting better and she is actually eating lots of dirt which is causing her to be more active and overall in a better state

well I just had to vent sorry guys

 

[Vicious_Fish]

Do you have pics of your setup? And didn't your female just lay an egg? They usually won't eat for a week or two before they lay eggs.

 

[latshki]

yes she layed an egg about 6 days ago and here are some pics
sorry for the crap pics

 

[rmorse]

Will she eat food in a separate container? Because you can get away with that substrate by feeding her in a separate container, then she will be happy, and still eating!

 

[latshki]

I don't know if she will but I will try
Im pretty sure she will eat just about anywhere to tell you the truth
from what I witnessed the past few days

 

[Mike D]

i would switch to just plain sand. thats what i used when i had my leos

 

[Vicious_Fish]

When I kept and bred AFT's I used 3 parts sand to 1 part peat/Eco Earth and they did just fine. Make sure if you use sand it's play sand that has been screened.

 

[latshki]

the thing about sand is in their natural habitat of western africa people often confuse the savannah with sand when in fact it is soil with about a third of sand mixed in to form a scrub type area
I also read that walking on sand a lot for some herps puts unneeded strain on some muscles and tendons

 

[latshki]

When I kept and bred AFT's I used 3 parts sand to 1 part peat/Eco Earth and they did just fine. Make sure if you use sand it's play sand that has been screened.

yes I used screened and washed play sand
I personally would never pay 20$ for 5 pounds of sand that just says exo-terra on it when I can get 60lbs for 7$

 

[Mike D]

the thing about sand is in their natural habitat of western africa people often confuse the savannah with sand when in fact it is soil with about a third of sand mixed in to form a scrub type area
I also read that walking on sand a lot for some herps puts unneeded strain on some muscles and tendons

never had an issue with muscles and tendons. You could do what Vicious_Fish did with his AFT's. like he said make sure you screen the sand.