Pet Information > ASK Experts > Exotic Pets > Reptiles > is soapstone safe for my geckos?

is soapstone safe for my geckos?

22 14:14:13

Question
i have an abundance of soapstone and i was wondering if its safe to carve/hollow out some large stones for tunnels and hiding spots?

i know the risk of the weight falling on them, but i am wondering wether the powder from the stone would hurt them if they manage to scratch the rock with their nails and lick up the falling stone fragments?

theres also the fact that its very very soft stone and can easily be scratched by fingernails.

Answer
Hi Jamie,
I've done some research and what I found is that its important to only get soapstone from a certified stone dealer because a lot of soapstone can and does contain asbestos, which of course would not be safe for you or your gecko.
Here is a link to the info I found...
http://users.lmi.net/drewid/Soapstone_dangers.htm
and also this site:
http://www.soapstoneintl.com/about/about-soapstone/
In reading, it looks like the softer soapstone is the one that can be a problem.  
If using the softer soapstone that is certified asbestos free, you may want to put some type of sealer (reptile safe of course) on it to prevent it from scraping off.Hope this helps you out a bit.
I am including another link that you may find interesting...it pertains to a bearded dragon cage..but thought you may be interested in the ideas for your gecko.
http://www.hadesdragons.co.uk/spyrocage.html  One thing to keep in mind is that the geckos have much softer skin than a beardie, so you may want to choose a sand to finish off the "rocks" that is super fine.
Sorry if you jet this twice..I got an error msg the first time I tried to send it.