Substrates for leos; your opinion

Originally Posted by lucille

The problem with towels is that you can't spot clean but even changing every tub every day would be easier if the towels fit in there a little better.

What I do is fold an extra piece of paper towel where the leo tends to poop, then change out only that small extra piece every day rather than having to replace the entire layer.

Now that my leos are all in racks, I'm using paper towels. I just fold them to fit. Back when my leos were in tanks I used repti-bark, reptile carpet, and alfalfa pellets for years and never had a problem with any of them.

-Alice

I tried alfalfa pellets once as a substrate (I've tried just about everything substratewise). I remember Steve lugging in 5-6 of these huge bags of alfalfa pellets, and me spending an entire day switching them over. And I also remember when I was all done how happy I was because my gecko room smelled like sweet hay/alfalfa. The next day I saw what happens to the pellets when they get wet (they expand, bigtime), and then of course started worrying about the geckos possibly ingesting a piece of the alfalfa. Then I spent the rest of the day dumping the alfalfa, cleaning the bins, and putting paper towel back in. LOL, my husband was not amused.

I always went back to paper towel as a substrate, and have used it for the past few years exclusively. It is the easiest and most convenient for me.

Thanks Jeremy. Makes sence, I guess it evaporates pretty quickly.

However I will stick with my Nolvasan

for anyone not wanting to use tile b/c of the weight in a rack...may I suggest vinyl tile... it is lightweight and can be cut with a pair of scissors to fit. It won't do the same things to heat that ceramic or stone does, but it does spread it some.

I use plain white paper towels and plain white copy paper in my tubs. Easy to clean and safe for the geckos, been using it for 4 years with no problem.

I have to say, I would not recommend using newspaper. I used it for a very short period of time and would notice the ink on the feet of my leos. Now, when they shed and eat the skin, don't they eat the ink too? That can't be good, right? Just my 2 cents

I think most newspapers if not all use ink that is soy-based and not harmful if ingested. Just as a side note, they teach medical students if they ever have to deliver a baby in the middle of nowhere and had to choose between wrapping the baby in a towel or wrapping in newspaper, it's better to choose the newspaper. When fresh off the press, newspaper hasn't come in contact with human hands, so it's very sterile material.

Originally Posted by Xelda

I think most newspapers if not all use ink that is soy-based and not harmful if ingested. Just as a side note, they teach medical students if they ever have to deliver a baby in the middle of nowhere and had to choose between wrapping the baby in a towel or wrapping in newspaper, it's better to choose the newspaper. When fresh off the press, newspaper hasn't come in contact with human hands, so it's very sterile material.

Cool, thanks for that info! Good to know.

when i get newspapers (the ny post or the ny times mostly they fit the bigger tubs almost perfectly) i dont use them right away. i give the ink time to cure so it wont get on the geckos or your hands. anyone whos fingers have turned black after reading the paper knows what im talking about. for me its the only way togo. i used brawny paper towels for a few years it was an adittional cost i was able to eliminate by using the free newspapers.....kirk