I wrote up this letter tonight to send to a local Petsmart that takes fairly good care of their animals, just that reecently they started using Calcisand in some tanks. So, if you have a local store with a similar problem, here's my letter that you can use as a rough guide.
"To Whom It May Concern:
I write to you as a local reptile keeper and a small-degree rescuer who frequents your store to pick up calcium dust, cage furniture, and such. First, I would like to applaud the general care of animals in your store. Unlike the nearby Pet Co, I do not find the ground covered in feces and crickets large enough to cause deadly impaction in tanks, or large numbers of animals crowded into small tanks. However, I do wish to address some care issues which I have noticed while visiting your store on a recent visit.
In some of your tanks, you are using Calci-sand or some similar calcium carbonate substrate. This, sadly, is one of the leading causes of reptile deaths due to intestinal impaction. Impaction is, in simplest terms, the fatal blockage on the intestinal tract by a substance. First I must address what you may first think, that the packaging says that it is digestible. Sadly, pet industry advertising is regulated little, if at all. Many commercial substrates advertise themselves to be digestible. However, this is in fact not the case, and people have unfortunately had to learn this from experience.
Calci-sand has a particularly bad reputation among reptile keepers. They may already normally ingest some of it while catching crickets and missing, leaving them with a mouthful of Calci-sand. However, they are even more likely to ingest this product, because they recognize it as a source of calcium. This builds up in their gut, and is nearly always fatal.
I therefore suggest that the substrate of the tanks in question be changed to something safer. You have several options. The safest of which would be newspaper or paper towels. I do realize that this may not be a viable option, since it is not the nicest thing for display animals. So, my first recommendation would be Duck brand non-adhesive shelf liner. It can be found at Wal-Mart right next to you. It looks quite nice, does not get very dirty like sands can get over time, and is easy to clean. You can scoop up feces daily and then spot-clean using either a diluted bleach solution which you then must wipe up well (Use a 1:4 bleach:water ratio), or use a product called Novalsan (Usually diluted 1:20) which you may already have on hand. It is completely safe to the animals, and can even help with problems such as mouth rot.
The last recommendation would be play sand. This can be found at Lowes or Home Depot for $3 for a 50 lb. bag. This may not seem at first better than Calci-sand, but it is both cheaper and the animal is less inclined to eat it, since it is not as high in calcium. The only precaution to take would be to run it through a screen as you pour it in. (The screens on the reptile tanks you sell are fine enough. Any window-screen size will really do.) This will weed out larger bits of sand, as they are harder to pass if ingested. It looks nice, as well. This still carries a risk with it, as with any granular substrate, but is still at least a little bit safer. (As a general rule, with smaller animals, such as a bearded dragon under 10” or a leopard gecko under 6”, stick to something like paper towels or shelf liner.)
One last concern with your reptiles is the Green Basilisk. I have seen for a little over a month now. Green Basilisks (Along with their cousin, Brown Basilisks) do have very nasty attitudes towards humans, and I would only suggest them for experienced keepers. Please make sure that anyone who is interested in purchasing the animal realizes that it is harder to care for, and is more likely to react violently to handling. Please contact me if you come to the conclusion that the animal is not going to be sold, and I will be able to assist you in finding a reptile rescue that can help with placement.
Finally, I would like to applaud the fact that you do not sell iguanas. Iguanas are a major problem in the reptile community. Literally tens of thousands of iguanas are in rescues because they are difficult to care for when grown, and require essentially small rooms for enclosures. Many stores sell them as cheap as $10, encouraging impulse buyers who later dump them or try to hand them over to a rescue, which if it accepts iguanas at all is most likely overwhelmed and unable to take them in. I encourage you to continue to not sell iguanas.
If you wish to contact me regarding anything I’ve discussed, my e-mail address is xxxxx@xxxxxx.org, or you can leave me a message at (555) 555-5555, or write me back. I do conduct smaller rescues (No large animals such as monitors or iguanas, I simply don’t have the room to house them) if you ever find yourself in such a case."
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1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Zeo)
0.2.0 Leopard Geckos (Vienna, Chomps)
1.0.0 Golden Retriever (Rocky, 11 y.o.)
