Slate tile vs Ceramic tile?

[SamanthaLovely]

I've read a few threads on here about slate tile and I thought bingo that's what I need. But when I went to Home Depot to investigate in person the man I talked to said that yes it conducts heat very well but it's quite porour. Which lead me to thinking about bacteria getting stuck in it and all manners of "worst case senarios".

Now I've read that ceramic isn't a good heat conductor but they had a display set up for some fancy heated flooring you could buy (wouldn't that be wonderful in the bathroom during the winter?) And the flooring they used was ceramic. You could feel the heat on the heated side. So he told me they have some ceramic tiles I could get that conduct heat well and weren't porous. I could put my UTH under it and viola.
So my question is, Does anyone have first hand experience with ceramic tile?

Obvously no matter what I get I will be monitoring it very closely.

My second question is would I want to put something on the tile? Paper towels or what not? Because they don't exactly seem like the most comfortable thing to lay on.

Anyways thanks so much.

 

[Harley_Davidson]

I can only speak from my experience which is slate tile. I love it! I definitely conducts heat, its easy easy to clean, looks good and all my critters seem to really like it. I wouldn't use anything else. Well except for my snakes which I use aspen bedding...LOL

 

[KTyne]

The thing about slate tile is that it may be porous but you can just throw it in the dish washer to clean it and that'll santitize it really well.
Ceramic tile I don't think would be very good...

 

[SamanthaLovely]

Thank you both. Believe it or not I don't have a dishwasher. I know it's barbaric these days Alot of threads have said slate is better so I'll probably go with it. I'm just worried about bacteria getting absorbed but I suppose it's not any worse than the repticarpet

 

[KTyne]

No worries, we don't have a dishwasher either! All hand washed.
Hot water works just as good.

 

[Harley_Davidson]

Samantha, just give it a really good scrub once a week and you shouldn't have a problem

 

[Harley_Davidson]

Ha Ha I just noticed it looks like this is the Canadian thread!

 

[Saskia]

Thank you both. Believe it or not I don't have a dishwasher. I know it's barbaric these days Alot of threads have said slate is better so I'll probably go with it. I'm just worried about bacteria getting absorbed but I suppose it's not any worse than the repticarpet

:rofl: "barbaric" :rofl: in my country almost nobody has dishwashers, everybody washes their own dishes, well, I guess we are a barbaric country in many other ways as well!! :coverlaugh:

Anyways.... back to topic, the thing about ceramic tiles is IMO that they are too smooth and it would be uncomfortable for the gecko to walk around, I believe the slate´s rustic finish is better and more natural for the gecko, specially when hunting, I can imagine them sliding on the ceramic :coverlaugh:

 

[Harley_Davidson]

I can imagine them sliding on the ceramic :coverlaugh:

OMG the visual this gave me......:yikes::crackup:

 

[Saskia]

OMG the visual this gave me......:yikes::crackup:

I can picture the gecko thinking: "WTF happened to the floor????"
:scratchhead: while sliding, no, definitively I wouldn´t recommend ceramic, I have seen one of my dogs sliding on very bright surfaces, geckos need a bit more rustic flooring for them to be comfortable

 

[Harley_Davidson]

Saskia we have a commercial here in Canada for the winter its called Canadian Police Chase. It shows a car just sliding on the ice not going anywhere and behind it is a police car doing the same thing........ I think the cricket/Leo would be a similar situation

 

[cricket4u]

No traction on ceramic. They will be running in place, :biggrin:

 

[Saskia]

Saskia we have a commercial here in Canada for the winter its called Canadian Police Chase. It shows a car just sliding on the ice not going anywhere and behind it is a police car doing the same thing........ I think the cricket/Leo would be a similar situation

:rofl::crackup: