Hey guys. I'm new to this forum, I joined because I believe my 10-year-old Leopard Gecko is suffering from impaction. He also has been having shedding problems since we moved provinces, but all this is for another time and another topic. I was using calci-sand, under the impression that it DID in fact dissolve in their digestive tract. I have just cleared it all from his terrarium, and am wondering what I can do for temporary lining. He has a small exo-terra desert heating pad at one end, with a heat lamp above, and the other half of his enclosure is free of any heating, and holds his water. I'm concerned that newspaper or paper towel might burn against the heating pad..? The terrarium is glass, and the pad is attached to the bottom.. Sorry for the horrible description.
I have a UTH (under tank heater) and use paper towel as my substrate. I haven't had any problems yet. Other temporary lining includes tile, paper towel, shelf liner, or repticarpet Nope calci-sand does NOT dissolve like they say it does. Its just lessens the chances of impaction but not by much. And you might want to see a vet about the impaction.
Do you use anything to measure how warm it is on his hot side? Are you planning on getting any other kind of substrate for him, and just use the paper towel/news paper temporarily? I recomend tile, I have it for all 3 my lizards and it looks good and is easy to clean I dont think that the paper will burn if you have the right temperature in his terrarium. The warmest spot in his terrarium should be around 33 degrees celcius (arount 91 degrees Fahrenheit right?) and at that temp, paper doesnt get burnt I'm asking about temperature also because I dont think you really need a heat lamp... Ofcourse I dont know how your set up is but a heat mat should be enough for a leopard gecko, because they take up all the heat they need through their bellys and not through the top of their bodies. Thats why you also need to measure the floor temperature in his viv and not the air temperature. Hope this helped a bit!
