Thinking of switching my male to eco earth

[Silverfire]

Hey guys! As the title says, I’m thinking of switching my male to ecoearth for a few reasons. One, he absolutely loves to dig, as the picture I’ve included shows. He’s also prone to bad sheds- much more than the other geckos I have. I really don’t know why this is, but he is a rescue and is missing all the toes from the knuckle down on his front left foot so I think he’s always had shedding problems, and while he gets a humid hut that I try to keep even more humid than the other huts, I often have to soak him and help with the stuck shed, which he absolutely hates.

He, like the rest of my geckos, have an 11x17 ultratherm uth and while I rarely use it, he does have a white bulb attached to his cage. He has the regular three hides and a small bowl of calcium (he’s not a huge eater, but he has stayed around 80 the entire time I’ve had him so I’m not too concerned, but I want to make sure he has access to calcium in case he needs to lick some). I have the ecoearth since I use it for the moist hides of my geckos, but I don’t have any tiles available, so I probably won’t do anything until the COVID lockdown passes.

In the meantime, anyone have any advice on what I should do? How thick should the layer of ecoearth be? Should I use tiles around the heat mat to allow him to get heat better or will the ecoearth transfer heat? Should I try to get him used to tong feeding or can I let the insects crawl around? Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[acpart]

I once kept some geckos in a bow front with eco earth. It transfers heat fine, so put the heat mat on one side. Even though we don't generally mist leopard gecko enclosures, I don't think there's anything wrong with misting the substrate lightly every few weeks. It must rain sometimes in their native habitat! The biggest problem is that the feeders can just bury themselves. I used to put a piece of ceramic tile down and "serve" the super worms on top of it, one at a time. The crickets can wander the enclosure; they won't bury themselves. I experimented for awhile breeding super worms in gecko enclosures. I stopped when I realized that the beetles were chewing on my gargoyles' tails.
Gecko Time has done several articles on bioactive substrates for leopard geckos. Here are the most recent:

Holistic Design in Bioactive Vivariums: Leopard Geckos, Part 1 - Gecko Time - Gecko Time
Holistic Design in Bioactive Vivariums?: Leopard Geckos, Part 2 - Gecko Time - Gecko Time

Aliza

 

[acpart]

I once kept some geckos in a bow front with eco earth. It transfers heat fine, so put the heat mat on one side. Even though we don't generally mist leopard gecko enclosures, I don't think there's anything wrong with misting the substrate lightly every few weeks. It must rain sometimes in their native habitat! The biggest problem is that the feeders can just bury themselves. I used to put a piece of ceramic tile down and "serve" the super worms on top of it, one at a time. The crickets can wander the enclosure; they won't bury themselves. I experimented for awhile breeding super worms in gecko enclosures. I stopped when I realized that the beetles were chewing on my gargoyles' tails.
Gecko Time has done several articles on bioactive substrates for leopard geckos. Here are the most recent:

Holistic Design in Bioactive Vivariums: Leopard Geckos, Part 1 - Gecko Time - Gecko Time
Holistic Design in Bioactive Vivariums?: Leopard Geckos, Part 2 - Gecko Time - Gecko Time

Aliza