Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have playsand in my tortoise pen. Someone told me that it is very dangerous and I should have indoor/outdoor carpet instead. Does anybody have any suggestions?

We raise all our hatchling hermanns on papertowels for the first year. I have however used Kaytee pellets but they have a tendancy to get molded if they happen to get wet. Still a good substrate to use though.

Play sand is not (in my opionion) a suitable substrate for hatchling hermanns.

Lori Neumann

Reptile carpet is also a good choice for hatchlings.

Lori Neumann

I'm using a fine playsand for my hatchlings with excellent results. Silica sand is probably the easiest to find which has what I call the right consistancy. It makes it easy to provide a moist micro habitat which I highly recommend. This seems to reduce dehydration (a major cause of hatchling failure) and seems to promote good growth of the shell. I keep the sand moist at the cool end of the enclosure and that is also where i feed them. Keep in mind that my hatchlings are in a room that is maintained at 75 to 80F to begin with. So you have to be careful with cool and damp. You want to avoid this.
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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Have fun breathing with that silica sand, Ed.

I have tried silica sand before and found out that it has been known to cause cancer. I definately stopped using it since.

I guess you guys are right. Where on earth would a tortoise encounter such material as washed silica sand?

I've spent many years playing with different substrates for different animals. The fine sand has given me the best results with hatchlings so far. That's why I recommend the sand. I'm finding the microhabitat is extremely important and the sand allows for the greatest opportunity to provide this.
As to the health issues to the individual, in my case, I work at the airport. I meet 7 flights a day which includes walking around each flight and thoroughly inspecting the aircraft. Most of the times the engine is still running when I start the inspection. I don't think that exposure to a quart or so of silica sand a day is going to add a whole lot to my health risk.
As to the tortoise, if it has adapted to the above pictured habitat I'm willing to bet it will suffer little or no harm as a result of the exposure to washed silica sand.
This comes to the age old debate of the risk outweighing the benefit.
I just recently lost a leopard gecko after 23 years on silica sand. I guess it was the sand that did it. Btw, it was obtained as an adult.
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Ed
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Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

I'm believing that is a Desert Tortoise, right? So beautiful. Is it one of yours? Does it also enjoy Mazuri occasionally? Sure would like to see more pics of your torts.

I can almost guarentee that the tortoise pictured (California Desert Tortoise) does not get Mazuri chow but by watching that tortoise forage it supports the idea that the chow is not a bad thing. The picture was taken in the Mojave Desert in the middle of July or August of last year. It would go from plant bunch to plant bunch and eat the flower heads (read: seeds, grain). It was interesting because I've seen Chuckwallas do the same thing in the middle of the summer.
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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care