Help! I've never heard of this before.

[Evenstar]

Get rid of that sand. Its going to hold bacteria from his poop/urine and may be causing infections/scale rot. Put him on paper towels or newspaper for now.

I would also suggest getting him out of that big tank and setting him up in a tub set up. Tanks are very bad at holding heat and humidity.

No bright lighting, they do not like it. Only use red bulbs if you have too. Like if your house is too cold to keep the ambient temps up. But the bulbs are going to sap the humidity out of his air and cause him to have bad sheds.

You need to go out and get a couple things.

1. Lamp dimmer. (Get at lowe's or home depot for about $10)

2. Accurite thermometer with probe (Get at walmart/lowes/depot for about $10)

Hook your heating pad into the lamp dimmer. Tape the thermometer probe to the heat pad directly. NOT in the tank, tape the probe on the heating pad outside of the tank.

Fiddle with the dimmer for a while until your temps are about 92-95. I keep mine at around 96-97 because of the air pocket in between the pad and the tub/tank. This way it's about 93-95 in his tub.

Absolutely agree with this! Sand = big no no. Put him on the paper towels for now til you know what's wrong with him. Once he's better or deemed ok by your vet, you can use aspen or cyprus mulch if you prefer something more natural. But you won't be sorry you used the paper towels in the meantime.

And do get the dimmer and accurite. You won't be sorry you did this either.

He may not have an impaction, but that sand could be causing other issues such as scale rot or a bacterial infection. Sand harbors all kinds of bacteria even when you think it's really clean. Just an fyi....