Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just recently bought my guy some playsand. After checking a bunch of stores in my town I ended up driving an hour out of town to go to a toys r us and a home depot. all of the bags had silica warnings on them, even the one from toys r us...except for the one at home depot. (it's natural washed and screened playsand)I guess my question is this: how do I know if it is actually harmful...I read some posts from a while back and someone said that the silica warnings are a thing of the past..that all play sand is washed and screened. I'm just curious b/c if that's the case..I can buy his sand closer to home. so should I just make sure it's washed and screened, even if it has the silica warning on it? which I ended up buying 2 bags at home depot so I wouldn't have to go back for a while. I can definitely tell my guy is loving his sand! and I'm loving the no hassle cleaning!!..LOL
another question that I have is my guy is 16" long.I'm not sure how much he weighs but I am looking into getting a scale soon. I am currently feeding him 3 lives meals a day..which is about 15-20 crickets per feeding. he also is eating his green very well. should I cut a feeding out now b/c I don't want to overfeed him. also when he sheds or is about to I do notice a slight drop in him wanting to eat..I think I read that this was normal and just want to be sure. one last thing..he still has a small piece of shed skin on his head..right between the eyes..it's been on there for over a week now..it looks like it could just flake off but I've rubbed his head softly and it didn't come off..should I be concerned at all about it? thanks ya'll!

I've come to believe from other postings here that sand is different at the same brand store in different parts of the country. I guess they manufacture it more locally since it is heavy thus expensive to ship. I bought Home Depot sand here before and it was extremely dusty vs. the Toys R Us sand I use. Assuming it's not really dusty I think any sand would be OK. If it's real dusty when they dig in it they will be breathing the dust.

I only do 3 meals a day until mine are 6" long. So I'd definately cut down to only 2 feedings one in the morning and one in the evening with salad in between. Most likely he will eat the same amount of crickets just in 2 meals, so save yourself the hastle of 3 feedings. Soon you'll only have to feed him once a day. But, I can't make a recomendation on that without knowing his weight.

I wouldn't worry too much about the piece between his eyes I'd mist it occasionally but don't pick at if unless it is really loose since his 3rd eye or parietal eye is underneath it. This always seems to take longer to come off.