YES people, I USE SAND!

[Nikki1292]

Jeez, people keep giving me a hard time about using sand and I am getting tired of it! YES I know it can cause impaction but that would be why I am being careful. And I feed Gizmo in another tank! He gets a warm bath every 3 days and goes to the bathroom regularly and he isn't some small 3 inch baby. %$^# it was recommended to me by some breeders that I called! I have reptile carpet if I decide to change it. Oh, and carpet isn't 100% safe either you know. My friends dragon Zion's claw got stuck and practically ripped it off his foot when he panicked! His owner was pretty torn up considering she didn't think anything bad could happen using it.



I'm sorry for my rant but I have been sent a bunch of "hate mail" in the past two days simply because I use sand and I am getting sick and tired of it!

 

[aman121195]

the beardie i might be getting his cage has sand in it i think it would be fine

 

[zebraflavencs]

In my opinion that is a personal decision. You are doing everything to prevent ingestion of the sand, and that is great.
Janie.

 

[Hopefulresearch]

Just be careful your beardie doesn't get sick and tired of it!

 

[outsdr2]

In my opinion that is a personal decision. You are doing everything to prevent ingestion of the sand, and that is great.
Janie.

I agree. personal choice. why would you get hate mail? if it was sent though the PM system report it to a Mod. The ignore feature is a sweet feature.
Jack

 

[peera]

It would be one thing if you were using play sand, but you've posted that you use vita-sand, which is essentially the same thing as calci-sand. It is designed to make them WANT to eat it, and once it gets inside them it turns into little balls of cement. Would you keep your cat confined to her litter box, even if you cleaned it out every time she used it? Of course not! Why is this any different?
LOTS of breeders don't know what the hell they're talking about, the people I rescued my little girl from were told by the breeder they bought from they could keep her in a 10 gallon tank for the first YEAR of her life!
I'm sorry you're getting hate mail, but it's a sensitive topic.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

If you are getting hate mail regarding your personal decision to use sand, please report it to one us here & we will take care of it.

As for using sand, yes, it is a personal decision. There are other risks other than impaction associated with sand. I always look at it this way. Sand or any other loose substrate is a breeding ground for bacteria in which feces & moisture harbor. If it is not kept clean constantly they are basically sitting in their toilet which can be unhealthy for them especially if they ingest any bacteria unknowingly.
The best sand is the washed & sifted playsand because it has the lowest incidences of impaction & doesn't clump up. Adults can still get impacted however, & sometimes will take awhile for them to show it unlike babies which show it immediately.

I agree, anyone can call themselves a breeder. They do not always recommend what is really the best or the safest. Most vets do not recommend sand, or at least the ones I talk to or have talked to in the past.

Tracie

 

[outsdr2]

vita-sand whoa whoa no no no. I was talking playsand. and then use common sense and sift it.

 

[Nikki1292]

Since people seem so opposed to the idea that I am using sand, I will put him on carpet this week and pray he doesn't loose a toe. *sigh* and my aim name was viewable to others and I was talking to people on it but a few jerks started yelling at me there so I am only going to give it to people who ask for it.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Nikki, use play sand instead of the vita sand and no more issues. Okay ?
Janie.

 

[Nikki1292]

Instead of waiting I went ahead and emptied the tank of its sand and put in my repti-carpet. Doesn't look as nice but it really isn't a matter of looks as it is health wise, right? Its cut into four sections so that when she poops I can just take out one section at a time to clean it.

And I really am sorry about my immature rant. My previous dragon died barely two days after I got her from petsmart. She was a baby, barely 3 1/2 inches long and hardly ate when I got her and pooped once. They were feeding her and the others mealworms and I heard that was bad for them as babies. I feed her very small crickets. I though that she might have been sick when I got her but thinking back to how they feed them mealworms, could it possibly have been impaction? It wasn't a slow death either, and was painful just to WATCH. I wasn't about to take her to the vet since I am only 16 and don't have a license yet and it was 2am so my parents thought I was exaggerating the situation.

With Gizmo, my new one, I wanted to try different things. He is almost 10 inches long so I thought sand would be ok and since breeders told me it was fine...well, you see the point hopefully. Some people made it seem like I was trying to hurt Gizmo saying how "You'll kill it by using sand" and so on. I was pretty upset about that.

Anyways, I put him on carpet and will take pictures and put them here later.

To those who replied to this thread, thanks for tolerating my rant

 

[lacy_black]

Sometimes people don't stop and think of how it sounds when they type. They rush in trying to cram the info into you as fast as possible and forget they're talking to not only a human but a kid so the forceful way isn't worth it because most simply ignore it.

 

[diamc]

Since people seem so opposed to the idea that I am using sand, I will put him on carpet this week and pray he doesn't loose a toe. *sigh* and my aim name was viewable to others and I was talking to people on it but a few jerks started yelling at me there so I am only going to give it to people who ask for it.

So, you weren't getting private messages from anyone on the forum then? They were responding when you were on AIM? You may want to change your Profile so that your AIM username isn't visible if that's the case.

If you feel uncomfortable using reptile carpet, you could always use slate tile or even non-adhesive shelf liner which comes in lots of colors and pattern. Just some other ideas.

 

[Nikki1292]

Just a few minutes on the carpet and I'm noticing that he has a pretty color lol. The gray sand kinda made him dull looking.

 

[ehk10]

I use tile. It is AWESOME. I do keep a box of sand in there though, so she can dig and play.