Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, so what is the difference between pet shop recommeded calci-sand and play sand you can get at home depot.

Q.) What species can use the pet shop sand vs what species can only use the play sand.

Q.) Using play sand, don't you face the same issues of impaction like you do with the pet shop sand.
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Calci-sand is essentially ground up calcium carbonate. Supposedly it's supposed to be safe to digest if an animal eats it. It also supposedly gives the added benefit of your lizard getting some extra calcium if it ingests substrate. Calci-sand also tends to have dyes that color it as well, since it's almost always red or black or some other garish color. I seem to remember reading somewhere that it can cause impactions just as much as regular sand can, and there's also the problem of an animal eating too much of it and experiencing hypercalcemia [calcium overdose].

Play sand is typically washed and refined sand of some sort. However, it is often a nice white color and is actually silica sand which is much more fine than your basic quartz builder's sand. Silica sand can cause eye irritation as well as respiratory irritation in humans - who knows how bad it can be for a small lizard. The trade-off to using non-play sand is that you end up getting an even dustier sand which is usually intended as a component of concrete or some other product - hence it's unrefined state.

I don't keep any of my animals on sand, however with very few exceptions, most animals are going to do much better on a simple mix of sand and soil - besides it'll be much more natural. Very few lizards/snakes are found exclusively on sand, just as there are very few deserts throughout the world that are exclusively sand.

Your best bet if you can find it and you want to pay extra for it, is to buy sand blasting sand as it has been washed and sifted to a uniform particle size and is likely to be less abrasive to your animal and without the dust less irritating to their respiratory system and eyes. You may have to shop around or even call some body shops to see where they buy their sand. Barring that, look at some books on natural vivarium design and pay close attention to the sections on substrates and how they make up a desert substrate for example.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois

Dear Matt,

Great hearing from you again. This is some of the best advise on the calci sand vs play sand I've found yet. With your permission I'd like to use this info on my site. The majority of my vivarium's use zoo med's eco earth (coconut fiber). Do you think using a 50/50 mix of sand and coconut fiber would be recommendable? With perhaps a layer of gravel underneath for drainage?

Sorry for not getting back to you on the lighting, I just forgot. When I was a kid and growing up in Chicago, Lincoln Park Zoo was my most favorite place. Your very lucky being able to work there.

Bob Stano
stano40

PS any advise I use from you I will always show your credits.
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Bob,

If you want some really good info on bioactive substrates, you should get a copy of "The Art of Keeping Snakes," by Phillipe DeVosjoli. It came out in '04 and has a lot of really good info on naturalistic design vivaria for snakes. The principles though are applicable to all herps. I think he just chose to focus on snakes because many snake keepers in the U.S. are still locked into the whole aspen, water bowl, hide box and nothing else school of husbandry. If you don't want to get the book, let me know and I'll give you a basic run down on his substrate recipe and how you maintain a vivarium with that set up. Just send me an email. Feel free to use any information I post but remember I'm posting from personal experience and not neccessarily how anything is done at the zoo or the WDC. I simply tack on that signature line to show people that I'm a professional animal keeper and not just some guy doling out advice.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois