Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Man, seriously. Before i became a regular on this message board, my thoughts on calcisand were good. The product states that it can be ingested, digested, and absorbed as calcium carbonate. Then, once i began posting on the boards, i realized otherwise.

At first i was wary. I have been keeping desert animals on calcisand since it came out on the market, and how could such a great , colorful, visually appealing product that is SAFE for animals be considered so bad?? And what would it hurt for a full grown bearded to be on it, seeing as she has been on it for 3 years now?

Well...i will tell you. I had taken my leos off of it a little while before this whole ordeal. They were hatchlings anyway, and the news sounded bad for keeping hatchling anything on the stuff. I had tried other sands, and decided that paper towels were the best choice all around.

But, one day i had indie outside. She was enjoying the sunshine when suddenly she pooped. And it looked like it HURT. She squirmed a bit and dragged her rear legs around. Upon examination, she had TONS of red calcisand in her poo. And none of it had been digested. I picked it up in a sandwich baggie and examined it (eww...). When i squished it, the sand was still sharp and jagged. Poor girl. I felt really quite bad that inspite of the warnings, i kept her on this awful stuff. So, i changed her to cage carpet.

That was a month and a half ago. Tonite, when i went to clean the poo out of her cage, there was STILL alot of sand in it.

THIS STUFF DOES NOT DIGEST< DESPITE WHAT THE PACKAGE SAYS!!! Please be warned before you buy another bag of calcisand!! Indie is fine, although her appetite hasnt been that great (getting better tho). I do believe that i got her off of the stuff RIGHT IN TIME!

thanks for reading. i hope this post saves a few animals before calcisand takes them...

-----
"raised by a cup of coffee"

1.0 ball python- Azazel
1.0 columbian boa- Brooklyn
1.0 red blood python-Hiss
1.0 peach phase thayeri-Sancho
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
0.1 partial stripe ghost corn- Raven
1.0 Sunglow motley corn-Ernie
1.1 hognose- Pricilla and Odd
0.1 russian tortoise- Manja
0.1 collared lizard-O-ren
0.1.1 leos- Boji and Kodama
0.1 beardie- Indie
1.0 BTS- Griffon
0.1 Iggy- Sunny
0.0.2 Red american toadlets with 0.0.7 legs total (er, i have one w/3....)
0.0.1 gray tree frog toadlet
0.0.6 land snails
0.0.2 millipedes of unknown species from TN
0.0.1 spotted slug
5.3 bettas
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
2.3 ratties Rizzo, Bounce, Bree, Blitzkreig, and Zelda

Good for you! Congrats on finding this early & getting rid of it, I pray your lizards will all re-coop from this. I know it's an on going battle everywhere on if it's safe of not. I have had one on mine on sand for the first year I had her, then I decided to get the repti carpet, now 5 1/2 years later we are using indoor/outdoor carpet and paper towles. I hope everyone reads your post and changed what they use!!

Although I have never had problems with calcisand as far as digestion and stuff, I will not use it ever again. Not only is it not safe for beardies it is dusty, and just plain expensive to me. My beardie was on the natural colored sand for almost a year. When I finally got tired of the dust and high cost, I too have switched to indoor outdoor carpet. I find it much easier to clean and doesnt cost a whole lot. ($2.15 for 1 1x6 foot piece, and I get two cage sized mats out of this) And for the longest time I thought I had a drab brown dragon. I just switched to the carpeting and since his current shed, I have seen colors on him I didnt even know he had. The dark and light browns, reds and even orange and yellow! He is turning out to be quite colorful. He seems happier too, I think I even saw a smile and a Thanks mom!

Always glad to hear proof on what people have said to be true. glad to hear your dragons are doing better and didn't have any severe problems from the calci-sand. I have a suggestion though, did you or can y ou take pictures of your dragon's poo, so we all can see just how much sand is injected even if you haven't actually seen the dragon eat the sand? Alot of people who had or are using the calci-sand claim their dragon never eats any of it as they haven't seen their dragon do so but who watches their dragon for every minute they are awake? I think these photos will show them that dragons do indeed eat the sand, intentionally or otherwise.

I had repti sand in my Tank for about a day or less and my baby would always taste. Just because there not eating doesnt mean they dont taste everything. and everytime the stick out that tongue to taste something it gets on there and then in there stomach i am sure. i know when i lick something it stays on the tongue. LOL

n/p
-----
www.classylizard.com