Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys. Havent posted in a while. Wondering about sand... and unusual behavior with horned lizards. Bought play sand not too long ago and baked it in the oven to rid it of *possible* mites, ticks, etc. before adding it to a new enclosure we recently built (near 60 gallon). (Thought it might help sanitize.) In any case, our horned lizards seem to like the larger space, but have been licking the sand, possibly even trying to eat a piece every now and then. I thought it might be to smell, or follow a trail, though the possibility of impacting concerns me. The pans we baked the sand in were clear of any food residue, so it rules the scent of other meals out, I would imagine. Any ideas? Thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Also:

Thanks to all for helping out with our sick desert horned lizard (the emaciated rescue), btw. He did recover, though it was a long, long, long, slow process. Almost lost him. Underscores again that those who aren't willing to properly care for and accomodate reptiles, specifically the delicate horned lizard, should not obtain them! Lucky we got to him when we did. He is eating well now on his own, gained some stable weight, and has a new buddy... another baby that was given to us recently by owners who had no clue what they were doing. His eating and attitude has improved since his companion arrived. They stick together like glue, always following one another, and looking for the other when one is taken out. We believe it is female. May post again soon on the methods used to save the sick DHL. Hopefully, it can help someone else out.

Kieth this has been observed in many hL's, my Solare do this as well. I have oserved this in Desert and Pacific Horned LIzards in California. This seems to be normal activity, if you think about chickens and other birds doing the same, apparently this may aid in digestion.... I have never had an impacted horned lizard yet, the grains are very small and if you notice they seem to be picky about what they do lap up, there are certian types they eat.

Also as a side note, with respect to home depot playsand, if you look at the bag, it has been sanitized. It must be clean for children in a sand box. This is not just some sand they scooped up from a riverbed and bagged it as is. So as far as I know this has been very reliable and clean, but certianly nothing wrong with cooking it again.......Glad to see your being cautious with respect to the substrate. Good luck.
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signature file edited. [phw 11/14/04]

That is good to know about others licking. Hopefully you are right. I very much appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.

As for the sand...

Well, we bought the playsand, and after cleaning the tank very well, put it in the original 10 gallon that we got the sick dhl in. Noticed at least two or three ticks running loose in the cage that did not come from the lizard (he had been prior bathed and carefully inspected by my girlfriend... who had raised these lizards for many years), as well as two red mites. So, we decided that when we built our bigger enclosure, we would bake the sand *just in case* because we were never sure of the source of the prior ticks, etc. Not certain if they came from the store or not. Just wanted to have our bases covered and be extra careful. Thanks again for the reply.