[Chevalrose]

I'm considering using slate when I do end up getting a gecko. My questions for people who use slate are:

1) Do you use lots of small tiles or a couple large ones?

2) Do you take them out and just soak them when you "heavy" clean?

3) Do you grout it to your tank (and if you do this...how to you make sure it's clean?)

Anybody care to share and slate-substrate pictures?

[Allee Toler]

1) Depends on the side of the tank. I prefer larger ones cut to size.
2) Throw them in the dish washer or wash them in the kitchen sink.
3) No grout. I just leave it as is. There's no gap when it's cut to size.

[Riverside Reptiles]

I use 12" x 12" tiles of natural slate. But I break them into odd shaped pieces and use sand in between pieces. This gives a nice, natural look.

To clean the slate pieces, I clean them in a 10:1 bleach water mix with a scrub brush and then run through the dish washer.

[Rusty559]

i would have prefered to use small ones, at least on the bottom. it would have been less work.
but i bought 12x12s and hit them all in the center with a hammer, took the peices, sanded the edges, all of them (saftey first! especially after i cut the crap out of myself)
then i arranged them so some are matching, some are larger than the ones underneath, and this gave him his favorite hiding spot under a tile,and in his sandbox. i even had a tunnel, but he kept pushing his body on it, raising it up.
but i went to wal mart yesterday and got some grout because i ordered a backdrop and some more stuff for his permenant cage. i am going to grout it, wait 20 minutes, and throw sand on it, then gently press in, and throw another layer of sand with no applied force just for good measure.
i would recommend not grouting the top most layer, or just set a small 2x2 to 4x4 tile in the corner where your lil guy potties.

hope this helps. remember its all about the idea you think looks best, i hope i gave u a good idea or 2 though.

oh, allmost forgot, i cut out overhead transparincies and put them on the inside of the glass anytime i grout or glue anything, that way i can pull the plastic out afterwards, and it allows the whole floor to come out, without sticking to, and breaking off on, the wall

[holocaustto]

Originally Posted by Riverside Reptiles

I use 12" x 12" tiles of natural slate. But I break them into odd shaped pieces and use sand in between pieces. This gives a nice, natural look.

To clean the slate pieces, I clean them in a 10:1 bleach water mix with a scrub brush and then run through the dish washer.

Ethan, i would LOVE to see some pics of that...
Im actually considering slates too.

[carol23]

hi guys,
i was considering using slate but couldnt decice how, i didnt want to grout because its permanent, or 'my little lady' dosent like it and hard to clean.
I am also going to the wood to fing some logs and things and want to get some fake plants, where would u guys recommend getting fame plants from (uk)

[lindsaydo]

I would like to use slate eventually, but I just changed from sand to paper towels and don't want to mess them around to much

[DiabloGecko]

How do you heat up slate? I have a UTH under a piece of slate (to test it) and itsnot heating up

[lindsaydo]

just leave it for a while, it should heat gradually, unless your UTH is broken, how thick is your slate?
Put a thermometer on it and take note of it every ten minutes. I wouldn't suggest putting your gecko on the slate as it warms up to its hottest. You should have a thermostat on heat mats, especially with slate, as your gecko can get burned quite easily.

[holocaustto]

Ethan, Im still waitng to see how that looks like!