[lampeye]

It seems the more I read on this subject, the less clear it becomes. Sand is okay, OMG NEVER use sand...

What are everyone's thoughts on sand or some kind of sand mix as a substrate for vipers? They don't encounter sand, really, in habitat, but that wouldn't be the issue. Impaction is an issue, depending on who you ask. Are they prone to impaction? Sand seems to be the substrate of choice in German vivaria,a nd I have great respect for the German end of the hobby.

What are some alternatives for a natural-looking substrate? I like the idea of something that has a good amount of thermal mass to it. My geckos are display animals - I've never seen much point to the whole sterilite-and-newspaper school of herp keeping. That makes every bit as engaging a display as a collection housed in bottles of formalin.

[lampeye]

*bump*

Come on now - no opinions? Too controversial? How about some experienced Europeans chime in?

[Knobtailman]

Hello, I personally think sand is fine as long as you get a quality sand but you might want to mix in a little peat and compact it well, that way it represents their natural habitat more. You could also hand feed them or bowl feed them just in case.

[lampeye]

Ok, what makes something "quality sand," exactly? I've spent over two decades in the aquarium hobby, and I'm familiar with practically every conceivable substrate out there. There's pool sand, sandblasting sand, play sand, aragonite sand, black volcanic sand....

[nicole28]

I keep all mij animals on natural material.
I have several dessert viv's most of them have a nice aquarium type sand and for the first time i have my babies on calcium sand.
I lost 1 baby this year because of eating the sand but that is for mr no reason to put them on paper.
I prefer to keep them on sand i do not like paper towels.

Nicole

[lampeye]

Ok, I guess what I'm getting at is this: What size sand would be best if I went that route? The pool filter sand I use is just under 1mm. Play sand is cheap, but it's so fine, I have to admit the idea of ingestion worries me. i mean, it sticks to my fingers when DRY, so they're pretty much guaranteed to ingest quite a bit over time, I would think. I don't like the idea od calci-sand, as it's too soluble - instant cement in the digestive tract?

Suggestions on what sand would work, and what to avoid and why, please?

[gbhil]

Everyone will have their own opinion on this one, and many won't be willing to share as it seems controversy always follows this issue.

I don't like calci-sand. Too expensive, and encouraging a small gecko to eat the substrate is IMO not a good thing.

You're familiar with grain size and chemistry of various sand from the aquarium hobby. Good thing. IMO (all this is IMO, but I like to repeat that) pool filter sand is almost perfect in grain size. Won't be too rough on the belly and small/round enough that most ingested particles will easily pass. It's also pretty uniform, and once rinsed the smallest particulates that cause silicosis won't be present in any numbers. My big problem with it is locally it's only available in stark white. Maybe your local quarrys will differ, but here it's glowing white.

If you've ever handled Repti-sand (or any other brand of reptile specific sand substrate) you know that it's close "by feel" to pool filter sand. Maybe a bit finer grained, but very close. Comes in a nice assortment of colors as well. Too bad it's so damned expensive. I use it in it's reddish/beige color for my small desert animals.

On to my suggestion -

At your local Lowe's/Home Depot you'll likely be able to get broken pieces of cinder block for free. If not, buy 2 or 3 blocks and break them into a nice assortment of flat pieces.

On the very bottom of your enclosure, place some LECA or coarse coco bedding to retain moisture. Cover this with vinyl or fiberglass screening to keep it from working it's way up into the substrate.

On top of this place your pieces of block, leaving gaps of different sizes between the pieces of block. I usually leave at least a few large gaps (4" or so). Only stack these blocks one level high.

In one of the back corners, Place a rigid 1" airlift tube vertically. The bottom should rest on the fiberglass screen, and the top should either run to the top of the enclosure or be capped when not in use. Small desert critters will climb right in when on the prowl for moisture if you don't prevent it.

Mix enough sand 50/50 with peat or coco-peat to fill in all the cracks and cover the pieces of block by 1" or so. I like to mix this wet, and pack it down nicely. On top of this place any rocks or other deco so they have a firm base to rest on.

On top of this spread a layer of dry sand as deep as you would like. Use bottom heat and bright lighting to dry things out for a few days. Use the airlift tube to add a small bit of water to the very bottom layer sparingly. I like to add enough to soak the entire bottom layer, then repeat when it has become visibly dry, maybe every 4-6 weeks. Once or twice a week gently spray the surface so the geckos can drink. Very light spraying, or you will pack the top layer of sand.

This will recreate the hard-pan desert scrub your viper geckos live in when in the wild. Add a few flat rocks or cork flats and in short order your geckos will start to tunnel under them.

One word of advice - Bottom heat will raise the humidity, so heating from above works best. This will keep the surface dry and the deeper the animals burrow the more humidity they can create in their burrows.


Hope this rambling post helped.

[lampeye]

"Hope this rambling post helped?" You're kidding, right? That was one of the more informative posts I've read on vivarium set-up. Thanks!

The pool sand here is more of an off-white, which, IMO, works well with the vipers' unique pattern. It was my thinking that ps would be good - too large to stick to the food items, but I'm an advanced enough hobbyist to know that I might not be thinking of everything

[gbhil]

You're welcome!

Desert natural viv's don't get near the amount of discussion that tropical viv's do, so info is pretty scattered around the web. I'm sure with a little work you can make a great little viv for the vipers. Be sure to try and grab some pics for us all to see.