Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay... I know that everyone has their own thought on Calci Sand. But I wanted to know is there anyone who uses it, and how does it work for them. I mean do you see your Leos chomping down on the sand to get the Calci?

Also, I was told that impaction slowly works over a period of time. Now, supposedly, since the Calci Sand is digestable does that mean the sand would have adequate time to exit the Leos stomach and intestine?

And on a side note, can anyone tell me what is a good age to be able to determine sexes?

This page should tell you enough to discourage you heavily from using the stuff..coupled with a few friends of mine who have lost leos to long term impaction.. and short term impaction because they didn't listen to me. There's a forum somewhere where someone called "eyespy" happens to have posted veterinary surgery reports on sand impactions in older geckos that were proven to have built up over years of being on sand of any kind.. but this page is just an expirement someone did.. and its what convinced me never to use the stuff...

www.pythons.org/calcium.html

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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
5.11.Leopard geckos (1.2 Blizzards (Caine, Phoenix, and Mirage), 0.2 Tangerine Albinos (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short, and Casper), 1.0 Tremper Albino (Mycah), 0.3 Poss. Het. Albino (Annika, Lace, and Aris), 1.1 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice, Malfeas), 1.0 Full Stripe Chocolate Tremper Albino (Discord), 0.1 pastel (Raven) and 1.2 Normals)
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros) (R.I.P. November 18, 2005)
13 rats (plus pups)
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
2 cats (Ashe and Hercules)

hello, I use to think that it should be okay to use calci sand too, but sense i started reading these forums i have changed my mind. i dont think anyone in here would recomend it, except for myself once upon a time. now that i have been reading these forums for a while calci sand is very discoraged! i have changed my mind because i figure if everyone says "no don't use it" i probably shouldnt. so anyways i wouldnt use it. if you really want to use sand i hear that the really ultra fine grane play sand would be the safest, but no sand at all would be better. I have all my leos and fat tails on paper towels becuase it is easier to keep clean, i have 18 all together and a few eggs in the incubator. however i thought your question was very good!

Calci-sand is digestible because it dissolves in stomach acids. So a gecko can handle a grain or three. But there isn't enough acid to dissolve a lot of the sand, and the result is eventually death.

Paul Hollander