# Leopard Gecko Heat Source & Substrate



## Brendan (Feb 6, 2008)

Hey guys. I have a 6-7 month old female leopard gecko who is nice and healthy. For the heat source I'm using an 75 watt infrared red light, and it provides the required heat (81F-90F). I'm considering, however, switching over to a heat mat as I've heard they can easily be used. They also save a bit of electricity, as heat mats have low watts compared to lights. My question is, what type of heat mat would be good enough to provide the necessary heat for my leopard gecko? I have two 4W Exo Terra Rainforest heat mats that I'm using for my emperor scorpion right now, and they without a question will not do the job. 

So I've ordered a 16W Exo Terra Heat Wave Desert heat mat from eBay. Would 16W for the undertank be enough to heat up the tank? What do you think?

Also, can I use calcium sand? I've heard of impaction and the risks of using sand, but what about calci sand? I'm using newspaper as the substrate right now, but the reason I want to switch to calci sand is because I know that sand heats up quickly, and the heat mat I will be using is only 16W, and I'm not sure if 16W is enough to provide the required temperature. 

Thanks!


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## NastyNate (Feb 6, 2008)

how big is the enclosure shes in?
i wouldnt recommend the cali sand the sand granuals(sp) are usually to big
plus if your dusting your crickets/roaches w/e then shes getting enough calcium
i always just used play sand, cheap and has pretty small granuals, they have different sizes at home depot.
and if your worried about impaction just feed out of the tank.


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## Brendan (Feb 6, 2008)

Hi,

She's in a 10 gallon tank. 

The reason why I want to use calcium sand is to help with the heat. Sand heats up quickly, and with the 16W heat mat I'm thinking she will get the required heat.


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## NastyNate (Feb 6, 2008)

it should be enough, i think they tell you on the heat mat what it will heat up


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## Mushroom Spore (Feb 6, 2008)

Brendan said:


> So I've ordered a 16W Exo Terra Heat Wave Desert heat mat from eBay. Would 16W for the undertank be enough to heat up the tank? What do you think?


It should be fine, that's the model I use for my ball python. The Desert model gets hotter than the rainforest one.



Brendan said:


> Also, can I use calcium sand? I've heard of impaction and the risks of using sand, but what about calci sand?


NO. Calcisand is the worst. The fact that it has extra calcium only encourages them to eat it. The packaging lies, I've seen vets on this very forum that have done autopsies on many reptiles and found their guts full of that crap, it does NOT dissolve or whatever it says it does.

If you want something that will hold heat better than newspaper, look into using pieces of slate tile. I believe people have been getting them from Home Depot; they're also easier to clean and keep sanitary than sand. The only 100% guarantee of no impactions is to use a "substrate" they absolutely cannot get in their mouths. You might luck out with various types of sand, you might not. It's up to you to decide if you are okay with taking the risk and ending up one of the unlucky ones.


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## BadBikaDamo (Feb 7, 2008)

Excavator Sand should be ok. Soak it, lay it, mold it, dry it. You can use baloons to build caves around then deflate baloon once dry) and water bowls (although these are a little cloudy). As for the heat mat, using a thermometer is the obvious answer, using a good heat source (ceramic lamp) and a thermostat is the easiest (most expensive?) answer.

Damo

P.S. The excavator sand will set solid, but as sand gets scarped away, this can be misted to set again or just vacuumed now and then to eliminate the risk of impaction.


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## RoachGirlRen (Feb 7, 2008)

Use tile if you want something that heats up nicely and doesn't come with a massive impaction risk; calcisand is death in a bag. Here are some autopsy photos of the result of a young gecko being kept on a "digestible" sand like calci-sand. Excavator sand would also be a favorable option to loose sand as well, as mentioned above. If you insist on loose sand, you need to get something extremely fine grained that is NOT quartz silicate based, and mix it 50/50 with soil. "Safe" sand is fairly hard to come by unfortunately, and sand in general should not be used with juvenilles as they do not pass it as easily and are more apt to consume sand hunting since they are clumsy eaters.


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## LeilaNami (Feb 15, 2008)

RoachGirlRen said:


> Use tile if you want something that heats up nicely and doesn't come with a massive impaction risk; calcisand is death in a bag. Here are some autopsy photos of the result of a young gecko being kept on a "digestible" sand like calci-sand. Excavator sand would also be a favorable option to loose sand as well, as mentioned above. If you insist on loose sand, you need to get something extremely fine grained that is NOT quartz silicate based, and mix it 50/50 with soil. "Safe" sand is fairly hard to come by unfortunately, and sand in general should not be used with juvenilles as they do not pass it as easily and are more apt to consume sand hunting since they are clumsy eaters.


Excavator sand is amazing stuff.  They make perfect little burrows in it.  My basking temp is actually 100 but the excavator clay is deep so when they want to cool down they just go into their burrow.


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