?????ReptiSand?????

[Wizer69er]

Hi i was just wondering everyones thoughts on ZooMed Reptisand for beardies?How is it for impaction compared to play sand?How old should a Beardie be before using repti sand if you feed in a seperate cage can they be younger?Thank you in advance B.J.

[eyespy]

I hate sand of any type, I've assisted at far too many necropsies and found way too much sand in digestive tracts. Even if they are fed in a separate enclosure it's startling how much sand they can store in their guts as a result of tongue-flicking and fine-grained sands such as Repti-sand are more likely to be picked up in a tongue flick than a medium-grained sand.

I'm very conservative and don't think dragons should be on sand at all, but if you feel there's no better substrate alternative at least wait until they are 12 + inches total length.

My friend David is a bowel resection specialist and he says he owes his beach house to keepers insisting that sand is "natural" and safe.

[drewlowe]

eyespy i know you have talked about it several times but what would be another alternative for sand other than newspaper or paper towels?

[eyespy]

Reptile carpeting, bed a beast, or wheat bran are all much safer options.

[Sean Day]

I personally would just use a fine grained play-sand, it would be way cheaper. I have used a type from Home Depot for 5 years without a problem.

Sean

[Wizer69er]

Do beardies have to be 12 inch to use sand or can they be smaller?

[reptilez]

people usually say 6 months and Eyespy said 12 inches

[Wizer69er]

just wanted to make sure about the size or age thank you

[eyespy]

Here's the amount of sand I flushed from an asymptomatic 5 week old dragon who was kept on sand, but not fed on it. She had no apparent problems but would have slowly starved to death over a period of years because the sand in her gut would have blocked the absorption of nutrients.

<img src="http://www.thebeardedlady.org/images/sand.jpg">

Sean, there are 2 types of impaction and one is very difficult to diagnose early. Chronic impaction occurs when sand clings to the intestinal walls and blocks food absorption. It usually takes at least 3 years before malnutrition kills the beardie and average age of death from chronic impaction is 5 years old. Chronic impaction is usually only seen on necropsy because there isn't enough solid matter to show up well on xrays or ultrasound while the dragon is still alive and most owners just figure it's "old age" that is causing the dragon to waste away once the fecal exams and bloodwork come back clear.

To see if the type of sand you are using is a risk for chronic impaction is very easy. Wet your hand and bury it in the sand. If the sand is fine enough to cling to your hand, dry grains will also cling to the moist walls of the digestive system. I've personally necropsied thousands of beardies who were killed by playsand accumulating in the gut.

So small beardies should NEVER, EVER be kept on sand in my opinion. I don't even allow prospective adoptive parents to keep adults on sand. I always take a stethoscope when looking at beardies and you can often hear the sand grinding in their guts if you listen closely enough.

We have yet to see a beardie kept on sand achieve an age of 10, most don't live past 7 years, but have over 400 patients kept on safer substrates that are over 12.

I hate sand. Almost 80% of beardies I see in surgery have significant sand in their guts and that kills very slowly and is a horrible death.

[reptilez]

where can i find wheat bran? what does it look like?

[eyespy]

You can buy wheat bran in feed stores or health food stores, it's not flakes like bran flakes, it looks like oatmeal except it's brown. It's a good idea to freeze wheat bran before using it to make sure it's not full of insect eggs that will hatch out under the heat lamps.

[Dragon_Slave]

Eyespy.. what do you think about ''Yesterdays News''??

[eyespy]

Yesterday's news? I'm not sure I understand.

Do you mean newspaper? I like it fine when it's printed with non-toxic soy-based inks but didn't mention it as drewlowe already had done so.

[Sean Day]

I don't no where my head was yesterday, I thought we were talking Leos. I would definitely take eyespys advice.

eyespy- Do you think all the impactions you are seeing could partly be caused by improper supplementation?

Sean

[Dragon_Slave]

Eyespy, sorry... Yesterdays News is a substrate made out of recycled newspaper. It comes in pellets, kinda like rabbit pellets but kinda big. It comes in a hard form and soft form, and I hear the soft form is the only form of it that should be used because the hard form is more compacted. I also heard that it helps get rid of the smells in the tank. Hmm...