Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if sand was actually a good substrate or not...The person I received my 2 Uro's from was using sand as a substrate, and I use sand as a substrate, but the only thing was that every time I put food in the cage, somehow sand ends up on it (whether they dig and it flys on it, or they pull it into the sand etc.). And I remember hearing that sand can build up inside of uro's (I dont remember the term used..), but anyways, is it really a good idea to use sand as a substrate, or should i be using tiny pebbles, or some sort of mulch or something...

Also, while I was typing this, I was holding my uro, and I coulda sworn he ripped one ( this means he farted for anyone unsure of what i meant by "ripped" )...well I thought it was funny, but is that healthy, or unhealthy??

THANKS

Sand is fine, but you have to be careful. If you wash food, throw it in wet, and they drag it through the sand, they will hurt themselves swallowing sand. I find they shake the sand off of dry food before eating it. You could try hand feeding them, a better food dish, or what I have (50/50 sand/peat), which is a bit better. You could even go so far as suspending leaves of food from the roof if you so desire. By the way "calci-sand" is the exception and is unacceptable.

As for uros farting, my male does it all the time. It seems totally normal. He eats more than the female and it would stand to reason his digestion of large amounts of food would allow him to fart. However you may have experienced your uro simply letting out air after it had puffed up from you picking it up, or it went to loosen its bowels in fear and had no solid feces to expel, and "kind of" farted. Anyway mine farts all the time and yes, it is damn funny.
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Mark Martinez
University of Florida

Yes, sand is generally find (only the washed playsand). I wouldn't trust any others.

Also if your still concerned, I also put mine on millet seed. That way its still something edible if it gets stuck to their food. Sometimes they even like to snack on it. Then when you clean their cage, you can throw it outside for the birds without a huge mess as I find sand seems to do.

I think its Cali-Sand that is the one that tends to bind them up from the calcium in it. Regular washed playsand doesn't have that.

As far as the gas, oh yeah. quite normal. I even had mine burping while I was holding him to feed him while he is sick. Had a huge gas bubble built up in his tummy.

Renee

Sand (the kind that is used for kids for playing) is ok.
But you have to place o few flat pieces of stone in the terrarium also. Lay some around your feedingbowl and the problem is solved.
A bit sand that goes in with the food is not dangerous.
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