Substrate for leopard geckos

Hi soon I am about to get leopard geckos (they will be under a year old) and i am a little confused as what to use as the substrate. I am going for the natural look as with all my tanks so i don't really want to use paper towels,news paper,carpet etc etc. I was hoping to use wood chips like in my snake tank but i have read this is dangerous and i have read that sand can also be dangerous. I have read that slate rock is a good idea but i am a little confused as to how you would clean poo up and stuff. Any ideas? thanks Will

In the wild they live on rocky outcroppings and hard compacted earth; so the most natural substrate to use is slate or tile with natural washed playsand filling in the cracks. These geckos do not live on inches of loose sand in the wild, and even with a varied captive diet they often will still ingest it. Another safe alternitive is taking the playsand and getting it wet, then packing it down as hard as possible so the surface is solid; then let it dry. I definatly wouldnt use woodchips, or calcisand/desert blend (that walnut shell crap), those are extremely dangerous and have killed many a reptile.

Cleaning poop shouldnt be too hard, just take a wet paper towel and whipe it up. Many geckos will actually pick a spot to go to the bathroom in and only use that spot, so there you can place a paper towel to replace when needed.

Your getting more then one? If they are going to be housed together you need to go over the same facts as you would when planning on housing snakes together. While theres usually notably less risk then with snakes (when the same size you dont have to worry about cannabilism), but I have seen more cases of one dominating over the other causing it to stop eating and stressing the little one out horribly. Two sexually mature males will fight, and young males will breed with young females before they are developed enough, just as with snakes.

I was planning on getting a male and 2 females and breeding them. I have been told by the breeder that this is OK and should be fine is this not right? What would happen if the females weren't ready to mate?

The male can stress the females out, and if they are bred too early their could be complications due to them not being developed enough. Another thing is that while temp sexing if really reliable its still sometimes not 100% accurate. Your usually pretty safe housing them together as babys as long as there is no compitition or dominance issues, but I think it would be a good idea to seperate the male from the females once he starts comming to sexual maturity (earlier if you see signs of him bothering the girls) untill they are old enough and of good condition to breed. You will just have to watch them very closely, your going to want extra complete setups just incase you do have to seperate them right away.

Will said:

I was planning on getting a male and 2 females and breeding them. I have been told by the breeder that this is OK and should be fine is this not right? What would happen if the females weren't ready to mate?

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I keep a pair together and let me tell you, I am moving them to seperate tanks. They have lost weight since being placed together. They compete to much for food. So I want them to have their own tanks for breeding next summer.

OK thanks for that advice. But back to the substrate wouldn't the slate pieces get really hot and have the hot rock effect and burn them?

Only about as much as it would be with glass, a simple dimmer or rheostat is usually enough to get the temps just right.