Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I see alot of people look negatively upon using sand substrate. Saying they could swallow it and what not. What about for a snake like a Kenyan Sand Boa, that you plan to feed outside of it's habitat, would that still be a problem?

Its not that sand can't work. The main arguments are the weight and the fact that it seems to stick to everything and get everywhere.

A property of sand is that it conducts heat very well. It also loses heat really well. If the room is cold, the unheated sand will be as cold, while the heated sand will be as warm as the heater allows. Soil is better at holding the heat in compared to sand.

East African sand boas don't live in loose sand persay. They live in burrows for the most part. While the soil may be sandy or loamy to a degree, it is often packed hard and can hold its shape. But still, sandboas do fine on loose sand in captivity. You can use it if you want.

The impaction thing may be real or may be a big scare, like global warming.

i use repti litter for my kenyan havent had any problems, dont use calcisand it has 2x the inpaction rate of reg sand. so regular very fine playsand is actually better, but for a kenyan i still wouldnt use it

I hate sand, just think the beach it gets everywhere and is always a mess. There are plus things about sand easier to clean and what not but IMO I think something like Decomposed Granite would be a much better choice.

It holds its shape better and still holds moisture. I think one of the best advocates for decomposed granite is PE (Pro Exotics). They have a lot of info on there site about its use and infact they breed sand boas on it to boot.

I would check them out first then make your decision on the deal. This may be a single speciman right now but later your collection could grow. Why worry about feeding animals outside there enclosure when that just takes more of your time that can be better used cleaning and otherwise caring for the animals. I once feed animals out of there enclosures but doing that once a week with even a medium sized collection became an all day task.

So why worry about impaction or any other problems with different substrates, find what works best for the animal. IE makes good burrows, maitains good temp/humidity, and is cheap. The fact that decomposed granite is sold by the cubic yard vs playsand by the pound makes it a cheaper supply.

Lastly what do the animals use in the wild, do they get impaction in the wild. I would spend more time researching the best substrate to use and I think sand IMO is toward the bottom. I would use newsprint before I used sand, honestly.

Good Luck Sorry to ramble.
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Jeremy

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" July 16, 1945 Robert Oppenheimer

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