Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey Everyone.

I know the disccusion on substrate goes back and forth and I have some questions that I'm hoping to get answered. First off I've been keeping my dragons on repticarpet for the last 2 months. Even despite washing and cleaning it, it still gets pretty unpleasent. Prior to this I've used newspaper and the calcium sand. Personally I hate newspaper because its just not that appealing to look at, and our dragons are center peices in the den. I don't paticularly want to go back to the pet store bought calci sand because; 1. Its bloody expensive. 2. I've heard that it doesn't break down in the digestive tracks, and it contains sharp edges.

The various posts that I've read recommend play sand. Thats all well and good but I'd like further information regarding brands of play sand and what I should be looking for in a good quality play sand. For example I was looking at Loews today and found a company called Quikrete (or something similiar). They had screened washed and dried play sand of a fairly fine grade but when I checked the web site it said it was crushed silica. I think I read somethingabout silicia dust/sharp edges being bad for dragons.

So the question boils down to what brands of play sand will be good for my 2 and 1 year old dragons? What should I look for in a brand?

~Mrez

I buy Lighthouse brand play sand from Toys R Us.

I've used very small grain playsand from the hardware store with no problems over the span of 9yrs. I work in a petstore a"real" petstore and the calcium sand is BLOODY expensive.
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What grain size should I be looking for?

Mrez

I got my last few bags from Lowes but the brand I've got is Premium Playsand. It also is silica based. The silica worries is pretty much old news, outdated info.

What the deal with the hazards of silica is the dust, actually, the inhaling of the dust particles. Today's playsand has been washed, screened and tested. If it makes you feel any better you can wash it again yourself. I did the first time I used it but saw it didn't make any difference, its virtually dust free right out of the bag.

All playsand is pretty much the same grain size. If there is a difference, its not enough to matter.

Have a good one!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

I find sand looks ugly myself....

there are plenty of other safe substrates to use other than newspaper. You can use paper towel, non stick shelf liner, ceramic tiles (the rougher ones, not the super glossy ones. It should feel a little rough when running your finger on it, not like sand paper, but enough so your dragon can get traction on it. Not sure if he will, just buy one tile, and see how he runs across it). Plastic table cloth, the sort used for banquet tables at various events *weddings, family reunions etc.) is good to. Cheap, come in many different colors and patterns and easy to replace and clean.
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PHLdyPayne