Looking for Tile Reccomendations

[Rose23]

Hi!

I wanted to upgrade my three leopard gecko tanks from reptile carpet to tile sometime in the future! They are in 20 gallon long tanks. I just have a few questions:

1. What type of tile do you recommend?
2. How do I go about getting the tile cut? I am awful at math and am worried ill get it cut in the wrong sizes.
3. How long does it take after the tile is put in for the heat from a UTH to be up to temp?
4. What is your experience getting tile for your gecko tanks?

Thank you!

 

[acpart]

I have tile in all my leopard gecko enclosures. I go to Home Depot (any home improvement store is fine as well) and buy floor tile with a slightly roughened surface (i.e. not the smooth marble type tile). Some places will cut the tile for you. You can also invest in a score and snap tile cutter, where you use the cutter to incise a line on the surface and then use the cutter to push down on the tile to snap it off. It doesn't have to be exact. Another choice is to start with 12"x12" tiles (get the cheapest, it's usually under $2 a tile) and then see what else there is to piece in. If you have a 20 gallon long, that's 2 1/2 12" tiles, so you get two 12" tiles and then look at the smaller sizes to fill the remaining 12"x6" space.
The heat comes up pretty quickly and the tile conducts it well.

Aliza

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Another choice is to use slate tiles. Slate is super for conducting heat.

Amazon sells slate cheese trays, smaller trays, & coasters. One of two slate cheese trays will need to be trimmed IF you have a 20 long. Slate will need to be sealed.

For link 163 click: Slate Cheese Trays 16" x 12" (11.8 inches = actual width) x 0.3 inch for Leo Substrate . . . . . . Gutler & Odinsmom -- November 2020 (updated)

 

[SpottedDragon]

I just used regular textured bathroom tile from lowes. I clean it weekly and didn't bother with sealing it. Under their "poop corners" I just cut a small piece of yoga mat to go under the paper towels and act as a barrier to anything wet/stinky.
I didn't seal it for two reasons 1) I don't seal all the other natural stone that's in the enclosures and 2) a box of standard tile is between $10 and $30 for 12 tiles. If one were to ever get to the point of being filthy I'd just replace it.
As for getting them cut, you can pay lowes to do it. _ I was really lucky and only needed two pieces cut and the guy did it at no charge. I took three just in case one broke.
The other thing I'll mention is that the tiles are not exact. The 18x18 size are actually 17.5x17.5 - this is meant to leave room for grout, but also means that it's hard to get an exact fit in cages