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Hey Jeff,
I don't think Ken's changed his story- didn't he say at the start that he didn't have breeding pythons without additional heat sources? I can't remember for sure at this point, and I'm not planning on going back to check:-)
Now back to the Calci-Sand issue- Dark Angel, I'm well aware that Tums are made from calcium carbonate (here's the ingredients list: Active Ingredients: per tablet: Calcium Carbonate USP (500mg) Inactive Ingredients: Sucrose, Calcium Carbonate, Corn Starch, Talc, Mineral Oil, Natural Flavors, Sodium Polyphosphate). And yes, acid working on calcium carbonate gets neutralized. Eventually, the entire Tums (or calci-sand) is dissolved. This, by the way, is a digestive process! Your stomach produces more acid- it isn't all gone!
I just tried mixing a small quantity of calci-sand with some hydrochloric water, and a little water. It all seemed to dissolve nicely. Boy, that is even better than the vinegar and baking soda of my childhood! I can only surmise, Gino, that you didn't have enough acid to dissolve it all, or if you didn't have any additional water present, then stuff you were seeing is some calcium chloride salt residue (Chemistry 101- Acid + Base gives you Water plus Salt). In the gut, this calcium chloride salt would be dissolved in water.
Now I didn't mean to imply that some calcium carbonate can't be passed- if the throughput time of the gut is quick enough and the quantity of calcium carbonate large enough, then some will be moved beyond the stomach. Sure, impaction is still possible, but the risk is vastly reduced compared to quartz sand, 100% of which will pass through the stomach. Passing a little sand is hardly an indication of a problem.
Jeff Hathaway
Sciensational Sssnakes!!
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