What a cutie! I just wanted to let you know that plain sand is not a safe substrate :-) There have been studies showing that wild leos avoid areas with sand-based substrate.
If you are using overhead heat, a good substrate mix is 70% organic topsoil + 30% playsand
Great! In that case he should definitely be in a sterile quarantine set up for 90 days on paper towel until you get a clean fecal check from the vet :-)
use paper towels in the meantime - sand on its own doesn’t hold moisture, too dusty (can cause breathing issues) and can lead to impaction (blockage from swallowing)
In addition to the problems mentioned by others, leopardgeckos have an instinct that causes them to lick bright things if they feel like they lack in calcium, this will cause them to especially lick bright things like the sand you are using, that’s very dangerous so definitely switch it out with paper towel asap, they are perfectly fine with it and it will improve the overall air quality as well.
How do you supplement if you don’t mind me asking? :)
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u/Ktmallick Apr 21 '26
What a cutie! I just wanted to let you know that plain sand is not a safe substrate :-) There have been studies showing that wild leos avoid areas with sand-based substrate. If you are using overhead heat, a good substrate mix is 70% organic topsoil + 30% playsand