Calci sand for my lil beardie

I know its not great to put in calci sand at a young age fora baby dragon, but I see so many people with baby dragons inside calci sand doing just fine.

I was wondering why are calci sand so expensive?
I went to petco, they sold reptile calci sand, 5 pounds for 10+ bucks, 5 pounds sounds alot but when you look at it, it looks so little. Comparing my cage to the sand,a bout 3-4 bags would do, and thats about 30-40 bucks for calci sand! It's so outrageous.

Does anyone here have any other ideas on what type of sand material I can use for my lil guy?

Thanks~!

Are you sure the pics you are seeing of babies on sand is calci-sand, and not playsand?
While there are exceptions to every rule, and some beardies get lucky & do fine on calci-sand, it is generally a *very* dangerous product.

When it comes in contact with liquid it hardens very quickly like cement- therefore when the beardie swallows some of it (such as while they are randomly licking their surroundings) It hardens up in their stomaches and blocks up their system.

Any pics you've seen of beardies on calci-sand were either:
A.) Taken while the beardie was still alive
B.) One of the few exceptions where the beardie avoided impaction.

It's expensive b/c people buy it at that price and they make all that money off of it.

If you buy calci-sand, expect some high vet bills to go along with the expensive cost of the sand... and possibly a dead beardie too

There really isn't a *safe* sand for baby beardies. Though the *least risky* choice would be sifted playsand. Though there's still too much of a risk with that too.
It's *ok* for adults, though still with risks.

Us shelf-liner, or tiles if you want something safe that looks nice.

i prefer shelf liner..absolutely no risk of impaction and its easily to clean... and cheap!mine has palm trees on it

yah i have ceramic tiles and they look absolutely beautiful..
i had to order them and they were 4$ a piece for a 12x12 piece but definatly worth the lil extra cash as theyre super easy to keep clean and look wonderful.. IMO no rish is better than even the smallest risk..

Stay away from the calci-sand for any age beardie. It can be very dangerous. If you are looking to put in sand as a sunstrate, put in washed, sifted playsand. A 50 lb. bag normally goes for around 5 bucks at a local hardware store. However i prefer to use shelf liner. It is extremely safe, easy to clean, and relatively cheap. You will never have to worry about impaction or any such health problems when using shelf liner. :lol: