[1sky1destiny]

I have a 3 year old Leo, and I recently switched from paper towel substrate, to slate, seeing that most of the people I've talked to prefer slate because of the natural look.

My question is this: when laying slate in the tank, do you have some sort of layer (sand, carpet, etc.) between the glass and the slate?

Thanks.

[jpstodwftexas]

It is a matter of personal choice..

Someone people refuse to use any type of sand in their enclosures regardless of the amount.

[BlackIrisReptiles]

My roommate had slate in with his beardies and he put a layer of cork between the slate and the glass, but the heat for a beardie comes from a lamp, and not a heatpad. So with a leopard gecko, maybe it's better not to use anything thick. Maybe just some paper towels to catch any liquid that falls through the cracks?

[kaikara]

I use natural slate pieces that don't fit percently and are not perfectly flat. I use a bed of play sand and fill the joints in with sand so there is minimal sand on the surface. I do this for adults only and usually bowl feed so I am not worried about impaction. With the thin layer of sand and the slate that is 1/4" thick I get perfect temps using a exo terra desert UTH. The surface temps read 93-95 degrees in both my tanks. It does take awhile for this setup to come up to temp though when it is setup.

[1sky1destiny]

OK, thanks guys. I did notice that it takes a while for the slate to get up to temp, but now it's holding very steady.