I want to try the excavator clay with my leopard gecko to create a more natural set-up. I went out tonight to buy a bag of it, but it says on the bag not to use it with UTHs b/c heat will build up? My UTH covers half of the bottom of the glass exo-terra. I use a thermostat on my UTH so it never gets above 90 degrees, would it be safe to use the excavator clay?
Zoo Med Excavator Clay and UTHs
- Thread starter Jayhay
- Start date
BlakeDeffenbaugh
New member
I keep mine on regular old play sand, never had one problem and they like to dig and play in the sand. I know a lot of people that use play sand. I've never used the zoo med clay so I cant say if it would be safe or not. If you use to much sand with UTH period it can be bad because the sand heats up to much and cant release all the heat. . there might be a few people in the leopard gecko forum on here that have used it though you might ask the question there.
Thanks, I will ask in the leopard forum 
My gecko is nearly 5 years old, and has been kept on slate all his life. I am aware that soild substrates are best, but I have seen the excavator clay at several shows and it is quite solid. The enclosure will be half tile, half clay, so it will be safe.
My gecko is nearly 5 years old, and has been kept on slate all his life. I am aware that soild substrates are best, but I have seen the excavator clay at several shows and it is quite solid. The enclosure will be half tile, half clay, so it will be safe.
gbhil
New member
Rather than snipe in with comments about substrates, I'll address your question
that excavator clay sure looks nice don't it? I allowed myself to get tempted by it when it first came out.
An UTH won't work. The clay is too good an insulator. It simply reflects all the heat back towards the underside of the tank, while above the clay is basically room temp. You could work around this by using a lamp for heat or by placing your UTH on the side of the tank rather than the bottom.
But
IME as soon as the surface of the clay gets wet, either from an animal plowing through it's water bowl or from spraying, the color leaches out. Your gecko's belly will get stained reddish, along with anything he/she crawls across while it's still wet. I couldn't deal with that, so went back to my old substrate. It's a shame, because the stuff is really easy to work with, and you can create very naturalistic looking bluffs and canyons/ridges with it. Hopefully Zoo-Med addresses this issue, as they said they were aware of it.
that excavator clay sure looks nice don't it? I allowed myself to get tempted by it when it first came out.
An UTH won't work. The clay is too good an insulator. It simply reflects all the heat back towards the underside of the tank, while above the clay is basically room temp. You could work around this by using a lamp for heat or by placing your UTH on the side of the tank rather than the bottom.
But
IME as soon as the surface of the clay gets wet, either from an animal plowing through it's water bowl or from spraying, the color leaches out. Your gecko's belly will get stained reddish, along with anything he/she crawls across while it's still wet. I couldn't deal with that, so went back to my old substrate. It's a shame, because the stuff is really easy to work with, and you can create very naturalistic looking bluffs and canyons/ridges with it. Hopefully Zoo-Med addresses this issue, as they said they were aware of it.