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Substrate has been a concern for leopard gecko keepers for many years. Their seems to be a major debate on which substrate is the best and safest to use. This is in due because of impaction that can happen from the substrate and kill your pet.

Their are many products on the market that claim to be lizard safe. While this may be true, it is not safe however for leopard geckos. Their are even products that claim to be safe fore leopard geckos and claim to be digestible. Yet adult leopard geckos are still being brought in to vets across the nation for impaction. Many were already dead. So even if a manufacture claim's that their product is safe as a substrate for leopard gecko's, it probably isn't.

So what is safe you ask yourself. Well good old paper towel is the safest. It's safe, clean and effective. It is also a must use for geckos under a year of age. The one problem with paper towel is however that it is not pleasing to the eye as other substrates. The next best thing, which I use is newspaper. It provides all the benefits of paper towel along with being cheap. But their is the issue of ink that you must worry about. Some ink's may rub off and be toxic for your animal. This is way it is safer not to use pages with color ink.

Fine grained, clean, sterilized playsand is probably the safest natural looking substrate to use. You must remember however that it is not as safe as newspaper or towel substrates and has the risk of impaction. You should never use sand as a substrate for leopard geckos under a year old as they have smaller passages to pass their feces and tend to be more sloppy eaters and will get more sand in their system. They also are more apt to eat the sand as they are growing and require more calcium. They will look for this calcium in their sand. This is just a few reasons why you should not use sand with young leopard geckos. Adult geckos however are generally safe on sand but still run the risk of impaction.

Calcium based sand substrates are not anymore safer then playsand despite the claims. Calcium based sands were packaged in hopes that it would solve the impaction problems of sand but in turn created more problems. While it is digestible, the grains are to big to completely digest. Thus impaction occurs. It is also reported that these grains are larger then fine grained playsand. So this in turn does not benefit and makes the problem worse.. Not only that, it is calcium based. So what is the harm in that you ask. Nothing but the fact they will digest more of it because they know its calcium and is what they need, so now it just compounds the problem even worse since they will eat even more of it.

Lizard litter made of crushed walnut shells is another substrate that claims to be digestible. So not use this. This is even more dangerous and is not recommended for leopard geckos. These grains are extremely large for your pet and will most likely cause impaction once digested.

Vermictilite, moss and other similar substrates. While they are safe to use in the hide box's, they are not so safe to use as a substrate for the entire cage. These two have been known to cause impaction.

When using sand based substrates or any other for that matter, you should always be aware and on the lookout for impaction. Some of the signs to look for are loss in appetite, lack of fecal matter, sand in the fecal matter, dark spots that appear under the skin on the belly side, and lack of activity. If you are in question of your pet being impacted, get it to the vet for professional diagnosis and care. Impaction is one of the top killers for leopard geckos. Only paper towel or newspaper should be used for leopard geckos under 1 year of age.

One additional thing to note is when you first introduce you leopard gecko onto a sand based substrate, you should keep an close eye on him for signs of impaction and move him off if he has a problem with it. This is extremely important when they are first using the sand substrate the first time as it is new to them. It will have new smells, tastes, and texture to them. They will want to test it and see what it's all about. So they will digest it at first. You will also see larger quantities of it in their fecal mater. This is because they don't know what it is. You should use your best judgment when introducing your pet to sand. If in doubt of impaction take him to the vet and keep it off the sand. You also need to have a bowl of calcium supplement provided at all times. This is extremely important when using a sand based substrate. This again is because if they don't have a supply of calcium that is readily and easily available to them, they will just eat the land. It is also important to feed their food from food bowls. The cricket will generally jump out. This is a main reason they young leopard geckos should not be on a sand substrate.