Reptile & Amphibian Forums

tomorrow i am going to petco to buy some sand since i will be redecorating beanie's tank. already i have the tiles setup and it looks REALLY REALLY nice and will look even better once i get the sand in place. i also have some river stones that will be used to help cover the larger parts of sandy areas. my question is what type of brand should i get??? Which is the best: reptisand, vita sand, or calci-sand??? i like the vita sand since it comes in a variety of colors and i want the sand to stand out but i will go with the safest one regardless of color or price. thanks in advance!

Cleo

Go with whatever's the finest.... but be careful when putting it IN the tank, it gets kinda dusty.....

Kev
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Kev
1.1.0 Tang Leopard Geckos: Marley, Mary
1.0.0 Normal Leopard Gecko: Toad
0.1.0 Colombian Rainbow Boa: Rambo
1 Beta: Malificent
0.1.0 Tri Australian Shepard: Nelly

Hi Cleo,
I've tried the vita-sand it works great, never had impaction problems. The only thing I don't like about it is that the dye comes out of the sand. Your gecko will end up with colored legs and belly.
Hope this helps a little,
Jason

Don't use Calci-Sand, the grains are just way too big and it doesn't dissolve at all.

Vita-Sand is very fine grained. I have had small Leo's on Vita-Sand and not had a problem at all. The rule of thumb with sand is: The finer the grain the better...

I have even watched at feeding time when a Leo is hunting and misses a cricket and gets a mouthful of sand they spit alot of it out. This means they are ingesting some of it and I have yet to run into an impaction.

Cinman

I used it a while ago it was the orange colored one but it did turn winkys belly orange for a while. I then switched it to the white and no problems. Use vita-sand since its real fine grade if not I hear the best to use is playground sand and u can get that at home depot or i believe at toys r us
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2 male leos: Winky HY & Lenny TangCT & 4 Female Leos: Sunshine Super tang, Serenity Tremper HY Jungle Albino, Skittle Hypo-Golden, and Banana Patternless.

I have found a brand called Reptilite by Carib Sea. It is by far the best sand I have found. The grains are smaller, even smaller then Vita-sand (which I've used) as well as Bone Aid. If you can find it I would recommend it by far over the rest.

Jeff
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1.4.0 Nannar, Abbie, Aspen, Sigma and Raleigh
0.0.1 Ball Python Ernest

That sand by Carib Sea is the best one I've found, too. I love how it reacts to water and you can use it as moist sand or dry sand. It's natural sand and is very fine and doesn't have that coating that other sands have.

Right now I'm using Repti-sand because I can't find anymore of the other one, though... I had bought the one you're talking about at the Orlando F.I.R.E. show and can't find it, even though I live in S. Florida and it's made or packed around St. Lucie County.
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Got hips like Cinderella / Must be having a good shame / Talking sweet about nothing / Cookie I think you're Tame

IMO repti-sand is the finest grains you'll ever get. Ive used vita-sand for a while (not for my leos...i use paper towel), but i switched because it smelled like crap (kind of like vitamins), was really dusty, and colored my leos feet....never used calci-sand, so im not sure about that.

Although many people have success with different types of sand, I'm a firm believer in doing what's absolutely safest for my geckos. I use only paper towel & would really recommend that you look into doing the same.