Vinyl tiles & Supplements

Hi~

I am new to this forum and new to reptiles all together. My 2 boys each got a leopard gecko who are kept in seperate tanks. One is a male (Otis) and one is a female (Iggy). Our family is crazy about these little guys and I just have a couple of questions...

1. Has anyone used vinyl tiles as substrate for their tank (they are not slippery tile)? What has your experience been with the tiles? The tiles have a peel away sticky on the back but I don't really want to stick the tiles to the bottom of the tank. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to put the tiles in so that they can be removed for cleaning?

2. I have read so many different things about supplements and calcium. The calcium I purchased has D3 in it and from what I understand they shouldn't get too much calcium with D3. How often should I "shake & bake" the crickets with this supplement? Should I put plain calcium powder in the tank? Should I use any other vitamin supplements also?

3. And finally, Iggy is about 9 months old. Would she be considered an adult?

Thanks in advance for any information you can give me.

Okay I don't know the answers to all of your questions, but one of the other members will deffo be able to help. I've only owned a leo for 7 months

First of all, welcome to our forum!! I can't wait to see photos of
your leopard geckos ^ ^ And Otis and Iggy are really cute names

Sooo.. yes you can keep leopard geckos on tiles.. In fact, Its one of
the best substrates you can use. Mostly all the owners I know their leos
on tiles. I use slate tiles they are great because they are easy to
clean, look great and warm up nicely in the correct temperatures.

I don't
attach my tiles to the bottom of the tank.. but I don't remove them for
cleaning. I just remove all the deco from the tank and spray the tiles
with the reptile-friendly disinfectant I bought from the pet shop.. and
leave it for 30 minutes... then I wash the tiles and glass walls with
boiling hot water.. and leave it to dry for about an hour.

I'm sorry i don't know much about sticky-back vinyl tiles.. but one of our moderators, Kermit, knows alot about which tiles can be
used.. soo please ask her about this. We also have a great caresheet you can take a look that explain all the housing requirements.

With your supplement... You can either buy complete supplements..
Nutrobal is a very popular brand to use in the UK. If you're from the US
or somewhere else.. I'm sure someone can recommend a good brand to use.
If you do not use a complete supplement, like me.. you should dust your
crickets with calcium+vitamin D3 powder about three times a week. I
dust my superworms two times a week. You should also leave a small dish
of pure calcium powder in the tank so your leos can get some whenever
they need it. There are also multivitamin supplements available for
leopard geckos.

And if iggy is 9 months.. I think you call her a sub-adult .. they are adults when they are 12 months old.

I hope I helped you.

I use the vinyl tile and as you said I do NOT peel and stick them. I just set them in and I find after a month or two they start to get stinky even being washed so I jut throw them out and put in some new ones since they are so cheap.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I see Sarah got a lot cleared up there so i'm just gonna be welcoming you in to the community. Hope to see you around more.

Feel free to PM me if you have any issues forum-wise.

Jordan

i use rep~cal phosphorus free calcium with d3 and rep~cal vitamin suppliments once a week. i have been keeping and breeding reptiles for over 24 years and have never personally seen a gecko that was overdosed on d3! and alot of my friends who have been doing this alot longer than myself have also never seen this. i think that you would almost have to give a leo d3 through an i.v. tube before they would actually od from this. just my two cents, but it would deffinately take more than what a gecko gets off of food dusting! i dust my feeders once a week with vits and every other feeding with calcium with d3, and also have a cap of calcium with d3 in their enclosures. i have bred cat eyed geckos and cresteds, but i am new to leos however...but i have friends who have been breeding leos for a long long time(craig stewart at the urban gecko, jeff galewood at jmg reptile, and thad at ohio gecko...and none of these guys have ever seen a gecko od from d3 or strait calcium)

There is nothing wrong with peeling and sticking the tiles to your viv. Most industrial glue used on self stick tiles doesn't even begin to melt until over 120*F. Actually might be why yours get a lil stinky Jolene. Moisture gets between the tile and the floor of the tank and rots. I've had my viv set up with nice high end vinyl simulated slate tiles in since october and smell nothing out of the tank except sphagnum moss.

As far as the supplimentation goes, I remove all issue of remembering when he got what and go with an all in 1 suppliment like repashy calcium plus ICB which you only have to dust every feeding or every other feeding depending on the age and condition of your leo, PLUS you don't have to leave a calcium dish in your viv. Some leos like to play in their calcium dish and make a real mess of things plus all the nutrients are completely balanced out for you so no worries of hypervitiminosis. At 9 months old and if it is not a breeding female you should be find dusting every other feeding.

At 9 months old you may still be considered a sub adult depending on who you talk to. Most would consider adult around 12 months, others would say yeah a 9 months their adult... but age really is just a number and weight really should be the judgement of adulthood.

Hope some of this helped

i will second Kels about the rapashy calcium plus ICB, this stuff is amazing! alan rapashy has been working on reptile diets and nutrition for a very long time, and in my opinion is THE most educated person on the planet when it comes to lizard nutrition. i am going to change to this myself when my vits run out, if not before then. the only thing i am gonna do differently is leave the cap of calcium in the tank. i think the leopards "know" when they need more and lick it up. i have friends who use this stuff and still see their leopards use their calcium bowl on a regular basis. i think they would be okay without offering a calcium bowl, but i am going to use on just as a "back up".

I use to do that too rick and within a month eros had a huge calcium bubble in his armpit. I wouldn't suggest the additional dish of calcium unless its a breeding female or hatchling. Like you said alan put a lot of work into developing the perfect supplimental balance of nutrients and with out proper D3 to help absorb the added calcium (or the added need such as breeding females or hatchlings have) then you risk psudogout and calcium bubbles over time if you're not careful. Another good all in 1 supplimet in the U.S is leopard gecko dust icb by sandfire foods.

ah! thanks for the warning! if i am not mistaken, alan repashy developed all the sandfire dragon ranch foods too, actually, isnt alan the owner of sandfire dragons? i could be wrong on him owning sandfire, but i am pretty sure he developed their food for them, if HE is not "them"...no wait, robert mailloux started the sandfire dragon ranch i believe.

I've bee posting that warning on practically all your threads rick where you suggest unfettered access to extra calcium can't say for sure who sandfire is without double checking sorry...

i am just going off what craig and jeff are telling me kel, i am not doubting your experiences, but before i was part of this forum i have never heard of this, and those guys are pretty successful and have not had problems. but none the less, i take what you say to heart. just curious, is your calcium you left in the cages with or without d3? just curious. i think i will just use the repashy and judge by the females and the calcification of the eggs and see how they do. i have complete confidence in the repashy products, and also of the people who have used both successfully....scratching head...maybe i should just stick with what has been working for me, but i have heard nothing but excellent comments on the repashy. and sandfire dragon ranch was founded by bob mailloux. took me a minute to remember, next tim i talk to alan i will ask him if he developed the line for sandfire.

It can and does happen Rick. I have seen pictures on other forums of it and have heard the question asked a few times.

When I left the calcium in his viv Rick it was plain calcium with out D3 as I worried about D3 overdose... I know the possibilities are slim and I'm not surprised you haven't heard anything from those people you mentioned. Often high end professional breeders only focus on one or 2 areas of care and focus most of their intelligence on learning proper breeding and morphology, I however have no desire to breed and have no clue to morphology so I took my studies into a different direction... phisiology and housing... just like dog breeders... sure they can tell you how to produce teh best looking dogs but most of them don't know crap about canine behavior (I specialize in aggression disorders, pack dynamics and canine communication) or proper nutrition (I composed a 13 page packet on how to interpret a dogfood label and what to avoid for my clients (right Jolene ) aside of what they've been spoonfed by dogfood conglomerates.