Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My snapper keeps me up allllllll night long digging into the rocks i have at the bottom....can i use filtered playsand?

Thanks.
-----
0.0.2 RES's (The Boondock Saints)
0.0.1 Common Snapping Turtle (Aggro)
0.0.1 Eastern Red Bellie (Jake)
0.0.1 Map Turtle (Mappy)
0.2.0 Bearded Dragon (Yeungling,Killian)

I have used playsand before. Heres a pic of a tank I setup for a small snapper. She loved the sand, was always digging around and burying herself. A word of advice, try to get the white looking playsand in the clearish bags. It seems to be the cleanist. Also, before putting it in your tank, put it into a pillow case and run some water through it until the water looks pretty clear. If you do not do this, the tank will be a mess and EXTREMELY foggy.
Chris

-----
Hey whats up, I'm Chris and I currently have 0.1 Midland Painted, 1.0 Western Painted, 0.0.1 RES, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

Here, hope this is smaller...

-----
Hey whats up, I'm Chris and I currently have 0.1 Midland Painted, 1.0 Western Painted, 0.0.1 RES, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

She was about 3in in this pic...

-----
Hey whats up, I'm Chris and I currently have 0.1 Midland Painted, 1.0 Western Painted, 0.0.1 RES, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

I personally don't use anything on the bottoms of any of my snapper tanks.
These guys are pretty dirty. I used to do the same with tropical fish breeding.
I find it easier to siphon off the bottom whenever it needs it.

Just my thoughts , but sand and bottom substrates (especially rocks) will always trap debris. In a closed tank environment, that can be great bacteria breeding ground, especially un-eaten food. These guys can also be very messy eaters. You don't want any un-eaten food hanging around getting trapped under things.

I find that sand is so dense that most of the crap and uneaten food just sits on top. I just siphon it out or use a net to take it out. I also think that snappers really benefit from having something to burry and dig in. Just my thoughts...
Chris
-----
Hey whats up, I'm Chris and I currently have 0.1 Midland Painted, 1.0 Western Painted, 0.0.1 RES, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

Maybe I'll give it a try on my smaller tank.