10 Reptile Products We Should Ditch (Plus Better Alternatives)

Today I wanted to talk about 10 reptile products we need to leave in the past. Some of these items may be surprising, but there are better alternatives. Helpful links below ⬇⬇⬇
Laser Thermometer amzn.to/3XgcW9n
Digital Thermometer amzn.to/3XmibEA
💓 SUPPORT THE CHANNEL
Etsy Shop thebeardedshri...
Shop Website www.thebearded...
Merch www.leopardgec...
Patreon / leopardgeckotalk
🤝🏻 AFFILIATE LINKS*
Viperia (UK PVC Tanks) viperia.co.uk/...
Internet Reptile tidd.ly/3ztNSMI
Custom Reptile Habitats customreptileh...
Amazon Store www.amazon.co....
🦎 SOCIALS
/ leopardgeckoyoutube
/ officiallyleopardgecko
/ lgtyoutube
* If you purchase an item or service using these links, I will earn a small commission, with no extra cost to you.
#leopardgeckos #reptiles #crestedgeckos

[@saeko81]

Thank you for being so kind/gentle when you analyze the 'beginner' setups. We all learn and it's nice not to be/feel 'blamed' for not knowing better until it's pointed out to us!

[@APOchromaticStudios]

I really like item number 10, the more clutter and hides you use, the more safe and secure your animal will feel and you will see them more often. It's as simple as that.

[@starnaito]

Agree with all of these! I will probably keep using a feeding bowl though, because my gecko loves dubia, and they unfortunately are really good at hiding and playing dead, haha.

[@nerdybertie4125]

There have been multiple times I’ve started taking everything out of the enclosure to clean it and find a huge dubia that has been hiding successfully lol

[@davidbeckett1565]

I agree on all of those because many are dated and have been rendered obsolete by newer technology or knowledge. Your final point about the glass of the tanks with clear walls is the best one because that must be very disconcerting for the reptile, which will have trouble with feeling secure when not in a hide.

[@Movementninja]

The dhp warms up the ground levels as well, and then drops over night which is natural, having constant heat on the ground isn’t natural even in the wild.

[@davidbeckett1565]

@@Movementninja I completely agree. Also, I'm not sure how many people do this, but I have a day/night heat routine as well as with the light, so the lights come on and the DHP should warm up to 32°. When it goes off, the temperature is set to 25° at night, so it's cooler when the 'sun' goes down than during the day,.

[@patrickbang3037]

both of mine simply doesnt care at all for food bowls, so thats easy as heck for me, and its waaay funnier to actually look at them hunt, and how they "slither" like snakes but with arms and legs ofcourse, but how focussed they are is so adorable to watch them on the hunt, specially for crickets and small dubias they freaking love those

[@LeafBoiGeckoGT]

And the wiggle their little tails before striking lol

[@patrickbang3037]

@@LeafBoiGeckoGT yessssssss its so damn cute :D and the occasional push-ups he does them slowly so i dont think its an aggresion thing, he has never raised his tail at me or wiggled it to distract my evil evil hand lol

[@Hilarious_Heidi]

I just need to say thank you. Thank you for making these wonderful videos to help me with getting the leopard gecko things! I now have a happy and healthy gecko called nugget! You’ve helped me a lot with staying relaxed and not worrying! Tahnk you so much leopard gecko! ❤

[@ryanwinter8813]

personal preference but I'm so done with crickets, i'm team dubias, I understand a variety is good but surely there's better options to consider adding to the feeder staple in mainstream pet stores than these noise, smelly, biting, cannibalistic little bastards that are really good at escaping

[@KiyoshoA]

I've pretty much never used crickets. I just use mealworms with the occasional superworms. Multivitamin and calcium. My gecks have been good for nearing 10 years on that c: I don't believe they need variety, I mean it's good, but, humans don't even need variety. I eat basically the same thing every night and have been for years, I'm fine.

[@JoshuaH.]

You can by silent one's? And tbh, to me, mealworms smell a lot worse but like you say It is just personal preference. Also I find it very hard to 1. keep dubias and 2. get ones small enough for a leopard gecko. Any tips?

[@NaomiTran-Oneill]

@@JoshuaH. maybe try starting a small conlony, and feeding the smaller ones. x

[@patrickbang3037]

@@JoshuaH. im lucky, we have a company that sells them in different sizes, so you can order from 5-10, 10-15, 15-20 and 20mm- fullgrown adult dubias so every single life stage and size is available, i effed up and ordered babies so i just ordered some 20-25mm sized ones and those are perfect, the smaller ones just get to life in a faunarium till they grow bigger

[@isaacvokes666]

Get locusts

[@jgfishing27]

This was a good video, def important topics 👍 however i think 10 gal tanks & UTH serve a small purpose. For me i only use both of those ONLY in situations of quarentine setups, sick animals that need simple setups & hatchling situations for a few months. Aside from that yes i don't use those on my other animals. They all have huge enclosures with overhead heating & lighting. But still. Good video 👍

[@MattKeepsFish]

Sold a leopard to a 10-gallon owner this week. Feels bad. Told the guy that he should be upping to a 40 or at least a 20, but someone had already given him bad info. Dang, I should’ve just made him return the little tank first. Oh, and most people in Canada/US still use carpet 🤦‍♂️

[@nugget8967]

I’m so glad I knew most of these already

[@gregwilliams853]

Reptile heat rocks should be discarded as well, seen a lot of snakes with burnt tummies from coiling up on those things.

[@shinjiwolf]

I agree with almost everything, except that in some parts of the world the ground does get warm! Obviously not many places and mostly those with a lot of geothermal activity close to the surface. But it does happen, so heat mats aren't completely unnatural, more just rarely found in nature.

[@Monsterkitty1220]

Except more proper overhead heating will heat your reptile more properly and warm the surface below for a sandwich of warm coziness. Heat mats are known to malfunction and if you use in addition with something overhead can throw off Temps with your overhead being on a thermostat

[@shinjiwolf]

@@Monsterkitty1220 For clarity: I didn't say heating mats were good, I said they weren't unnatural. Please don't make an argument based on something I didn't actually say!

[@KiyoshoA]

@@shinjiwolf lol that is the reptile community for you. They always do that. I have 100% stopped listening to anything they say because everyone says different things AND are very rude.

[@ryanramirez4501]

Great video honestly. The logic makes sense to me behind each topic like you said though it doesnt make some of them horrible options but its just somethjng to consider 🙂

[@pamhouweling7141]

This will help a lot of peoples pets and knowledge gained.

[@LaineyWilliams-z7e]

I agree with all of these! Hi I’m a huge fan of your channel! I’m purchasing my first leopard gecko in a week or so. I have its tank set up I’m starting with a 20 gallon but want to upgrade to a larger tank once it’s a juvenile/adult I really like the aesthetic of vivariums over glass terrariums but I live in the US do you have any recommendations on where to get a good quality wood vivarium in the US? Also thank you so so so much you have been such a big help to me while researching leopard gecko care also thanks to you I can finally find Arcadia products in the US! Keep up the good work!

[@LukeMcGuireoides]

I've seen reliable keepers who are recommending against the use of deep heat projectors now. An awful lot of what they say makes sense..

[@chloedavis2480]

I agree for the most part but I do use a 12x12x18 enclosure for one of my crested geckos he is five months old but he refused to eat in anything bigger and believe me I tried everything I could think of

[@nicolealers7523]

Another thing that should no longer be used is Heat "rocks"

[@tulip_with_wingS]

I put calcium in a bowl so it doesn’t get all over the cage, but it’s not a lot of calcium

[@mattburns8839]

Hmm, not sure exactly what the problem with blue lights is. I mean, I never use blue lights for my reptiles just because there 's a lot of better products out there, but I do use blue lights as day light for my hissing cockroaches. They seem to be doing fine. I'd love to have a little more detail about why you shouldn't use these products under ANY circumstances, or why you should use these products only under these specific circumstances, if that makes sense. For example, I recently watched a similar video on another channel--same idea, things you shouldn't use--and one of them was jelly pots, and the reason not to use them was, seriously, because it's bad for your reptile to pig out on jelly pots (!?!) You know what else is bad for reptiles to eat? Soap, shampoo, bleach, laundry detergent, drano... Yet I have all these things in my house and my reptiles are fine. 'Cause, you know, I don't FEED it to them. Somebody asked in the comments why they shouldn't use jelly pots, and another poster replied, word for word, "Oh God no, it's FEEDER FOOD!" All caps, just like that. But, what if I'm not buying this Sawzall to cut my hair with-- you ever think of that? Anyway, just wondering about the blue lights. I never use the red lights for anything.

[@user-nz7tj9fe3r]

is 70x40x40 in cm enough for a gecko and also what should i put for the floor substrate or paper or other thing? also how many watt should the heat lamp and uvb suppose to be? and also could a leopard gecko only eat cricket and meal word?also which is better cricket or dubia roach? i been trying to find these informations for so long but i couldnt find them

[@gregwilliams853]

I put insects inmy red acakis habitat loose and he roots around in substrate to find and eat them.

[@quinnnnnnn4623]

i agree with all of this, especially the 10 gallon tank with sand. the amount of people with grown leopard geckos in 10 gallon tanks with just the basics is so sad. you choose to own a gecko and i don’t understand why you would if you refuse to provide it with the best habitat you possibly can.

[@Gecko_topia]

Yipppe ❤

[@carbon3d]

Hey Rebecca! I've been following you for a while, and I've done so much research before I got my boy Bubba, who's about to turn 3 on July 4th (Murrica!!! Date of our independence). I'm wondering the reasons why sometimes he stands so tall. Front legs extended all the way. He stays like this for a while. I couldn't imagine it'd be for defense as he's been in his 4x2x2 CRE I made for 2 years now. The room hasn't changed, and It's pretty quiet at night. Temps I think are alright... might be humidity. Wondering if you see this, if you could shed some light on this. I trust your input/ideas. Just curious what "you" think might be going on. This is usually after a feeding.

[@jixk8707]

My leopard gecko has stuck shed on his eyelid how can I get it off if he can’t do it go long should I wait to help him

[@richardsanchez5444]

I dont think those ambient thermometers are pointless, people just use them incorrectly. I have one on the cool side of the tank so i can monitor the overall temperature on thst side but i have a basking side with a probe right on the spot with a thermostat.

[@cloudyskyz2237]

Tbh in my opinion, I don’t think it’s bad to use both a heat mat and a DHP (as long as the area is not getting too hot). With a DHP, you are only getting a small area that is heated, versus using both, it more accurately mimics the way the sun actually heats up the ground, and with hotter spots and less hot spots.

[@Movementninja]

A DHP is better and all you need, it is more natural, and it should be warming up the surface anyway

[@cloudyskyz2237]

@@Movementninjabut it does not heat up as much surface area as the sun does. Only a small spot in the cage. Edit: again, this is my personal opinion, I’ve just experimented using both and one at a time, and I prefer using both.

[@Movementninja]

@@cloudyskyz2237 also, using both counters the other, it’s too much heat, and besides over night everything should be turned off anyway, so again I see no benefit to having both, over head heating is superior and it still heats up the floor temperature very well, my floor temps under the basking area are 28 degrees, and the basking spot is 32, so there’s literally no use using a heat mat…. bar run mind as well only one section of the viv needs to be that warm

[@Demonslayerlife1]

I am 1st coment ya

[@EriMCardenasRC]

I use 40 gallon for my leo gecko😅full of rocks and branches i wanna add real 🪴 plants

[@Cozmic_091]

Sand or carpet

[@jixk8707]

24in,18in,12in tank is this good enough for my leopard gecko or should I get him something bigger

[@user-jv6cv5yb3h]

I love your vids

[@halfie44]

My Leo is blind so I've been using paper towel since it's easier for me to clean, she's currently in a small enclosure mainly I didn't know because I'm new lol, but soon she's getting the huge upgrade but I hand feed her because alone she cannot/ wont eat, I offer a varied diet of crickets, and worms. Any one has advice? Mainly for the set up, i have a heat lamp and the room is always at warm temp since I have tarantulas

[@dretterath]

I’ve been using a bowl/plate to feed my leopard gecko because I’m nervous of them ingesting the coconut coir substrate. I saw your skink eat a piece in the beginning of the video, I know it’s non toxic but is it digestible?

[@Arimmus]

I heard that there is going to be a Ban or a mass discontinuation on many UVB bulbs, do you know anything about this?

[@zaidfackenthall]

I need help with my leopard gecko. She hasn't eaten in 3 months but is still alive and her tail is round. I don't know what is wrong with her. She normally eats mealworms but now she refuses to eat them or walks over them. So I tried to give her crickets but she didn't eat those either. I think the temperature is fine, her heat pad works, and she looks healthy. Please help me, I don't want my leopard gecko to die of starvation.

[@BrandonFauz]

Mine is the same right now but it’s only been like a month, I even offered her favorite wax worms and she ignored them

[@Matt-my5cu]

naur

[@PetProStokoe]

❤❤

[@misfitmakeup1980]

Hi I've been watching your videos forever and petco is horrid we all agree but yesterday takes the cake and I will never shop th3re again as you have a larger following I was wondering if you could do an updated petco video cause there's still too many people showing there

[@misfitmakeup1980]

It was a case of pure animal abuse to put it bluntly

[@misfitmakeup1980]

I have to work this morning but I'll tag your tiltok later after I get off work I made a video on my channel about it but as my account is so small I was hoping you could do an updated video about them thanks