Regular sand or Calci sand

[l0k0]

Ok i know its been discussed all over the place and it seems really noone knows for sure. Anyways, i have a 2yr old male whom stays in his own 55gal tank. I acquired him from someone in my town who literally knew nothing about birdies. Anyways, i have had him for 6months maybe longer...Heres the deal.....She kept him in this 55gal tank with calci sand and no uva/uvb lighting at all except that little crappy tube. Now i have him in same tank with an expensive uva/uvb bulb thats like 30 bucks from the pet store, also i have a heat lamb for at night durung winter....I took the calci sand out lastnight and replaced it with regualr grain sand. I filtered the sand so that ALL of the rocks are out of it and now its just small sand pebbles. I did this because i have heard rumors that calci sand (is jagged) and if swallowed much it could cause problems for the beardie. Also was told regular sand is small (round) grains and IF swallowed by the adult beardie, it shouldnt be harmful at all........Am i correct on all of this, or should i put the calci sand back in his tank?....Thanks

[mischevious21]

Ok, I'm going to start with saying that whoever told you that sand is not harmful to an adult beardie does not know what their talking about. Nothing againced you- I use sand so dont worry, I'm not knockin you or anything lol.

It's true that sand is not as likely to kill your adult beardie or cause impaction- but it can still happen. Yuo have to be very careful- espesialy when you first put them in it because they WILL eat it and you have to make sure they dont eat too much.

Also, regular sand is cheaper, but you HAVE to be able to screen it first to get all of the little rocks out, because there are always rocks, and you have to make sure he/she doesnt swallow any. And calci-sand is alot more exspensice, but you dont have to worry about rocks. Oh and a myth is calci-sand will give the Beardies more calcium if they eat it- not true.

And I'm just going to warn you about this. Tru, with sand you dont have to replace it and do 'full out' cleanings as often, but you DO have to scoop out the poo ASAP, and even then it will still retain the smell.

But to make sure that doesnt happen, this is what I have found works best- Get an old stainless steel/metal (whatever) spoon, and drag it through the sand to over turn it, and all of the clumps of sand you see scoop out and through out, and there will be no smell

Sorry, that was long lol. But that's my advice, and any questions feel free to ask

[l0k0]

Yeah i figure anything can the beardie can swallow could possibly be dangerous. So i know the play sand isnt 100% harmless. I was just told that play sand would be a safer alternative due to the sand grains being round and not jagged. And yes all the rocks are sifted out of the sand, theres nothing in his sand but the sand grains themselves now. Oh yeah and i had him on the calci sand and cleaned his poop out every morning. For some reason he poops late at night when im sleeping, and his room smells like poop every damn morning, LoL...He's a healthy one now and my gf likes to call him Fatty. I just wanted to make sure that changing from calci sand to play sand wasnt a complete waist of my sifting time. He seems to have taken to it very well. And honestly i dont know how he has lasted all these years without the proper care...Honestly u just wouldnt imagine how much of a different beardie he is now compared to when i first got him. Lucky him he came to a good home.

[mischevious21]

Oh I believe you- I've seen some huge transformations, with older, malnutritioned beardies- and hell just a baby BD within a few months- my 3 month ols is 14 in. long, and was only 2 weeks and 4in. when I first got him! He had been a little malnurished, but it wasnt too bad yet. But yea, it sounds like your doing everything great, keep it up!!

And yea- it says "Reggie AKA lil' dude" on my sig., but thats b/c I'm too lazy to change it- weve been calling him Fat Boy for the last few moths lol

[Spike24]

From what I have heard the playsand sifted is better than the Calisand. I was told to try a little trick to prove the point which was dropping a drop of water onto both types of sand. even though the playsand absorbs it the calci sand actually compacts together which is the same thing it would supposedly do in the beardies stomach. I thought this was neat and that I would share. Personally I use paper towels no risk of impactions and easy to fully clean. But uf I personally had to choose i owuld go with Play sand sifted.

[SoCaliSon]

I did a ton of research into this before I brought my beardies home. And after my research and personal experience... I would stay away from any particle substrate adult or baby. Calci Sand(aka Calci-Death) contains calcium and vitamins that can cause the beardie to want to lick it. Well this stuff does clump when it is wet and will eventually compact a beardie of any size. (not in every case but if you ask me it is not worth the risk). Play sand would be an alternative but the reason i chose against this is the cleaning. My Beardies have big wet stinky dookies and sand would just soak that nasty stuff up and eventually your Terrarium becomes a stink hole even if there is no visual waste.
After considering these points I also wanted something that was visually pleasing so I opted to use ceramic tile. I line paper towels underneath to get any leakage. When I get home from work I get a paper towel and wipe their waste right out of there. Every week or so it takes me about 10 min to pull everything out, I give the tank a quick wipe down... Wash off the tiles and anything else that may have been dookified... Bathe my beardies and put them back in. I have tried most all of them and if you ask me this is the most practical and beneficial substrate for a Dragon.

[reptile3]

I thought the sand was bad for them as well... I was using reptile litter for a long time, & I just switched to Eco Earth loose coconut fiber substrate. My Beardie is 6 yrs old,* we got him when he was about 4 months old *. Never had any impacted problems or any other kind. Since I am home most of the day, I clean his poops out asap. He goes in the morning... in the same spot all the time!!! LOL

[Beardedragon]

why use sand? Its not natural to them and it is harmful? When they poop, there is no way you will be able get all of the soaked in stuff unless you change it compleatly, which is a huge pain to do. Sand causes impaction, and is a very good bacteria breeding ground. Id switch to tile or paper towels.


What kind of uvb bulb did you buy?