The Impaction Issue.

[HeatherRose]

Hey guys...

If a species' natural environment is on sand, and they live and eat on sand in the wild, what is the issue with keeping a sand-dwelling species on sand?

Can I have everyone's personal takes on and experiences with sand impaction? I always see posters flamed and fussed over when they say they keep animals on sand, always told what 'could' and 'would' happen. How many people have actually seen impaction in their or another individual's animals?

I'm completely neutral on the subject, as I understand intestinal compaction but also wonder how animals fend for themselves in the wild if this is the case, living and evolving for thousands of years on sand I, particularly, do not have any animals on sand but then again, I do not keep any desert-dwelling animals.

Discuss...this'll be interesting

[Big_V]

Ive keep leopard geckos for years on sand. Though its best to start them off on newspaper. Ive never had one become impacted of the sand and ive seen them take some giant mouth fulls of it. Ive also keep beardies (though not anymore) on sand no problems there either. I think it has to do more with them being the right age before you put them on sand jsut to be precautious.
As for evolution, they of course should have no problems living on sand as this is their natural habitat. Its just that people would rather be cautious with their investments and pets IMO.
And that little smiley dude eating popcorn is awesome. LOL

[Manitoban Herps]

I keep all three of my leopard geckos on sand, and my pair of eastern collard lizards on sand as well.

I have had no problems ever, and the leos have been on the sand for a couple years. I haven't seen my leopard lick or eat the sand once, I do provide a calcium didh though.

[CanadianJackson]

I keep my helmeted geckos and western collard lizards on sand. Never had a problem, though I've only had the helmeteds for a couple weeks.

[mudflats]

Never had an issue with sand either..for lizards, i think its more of an issue with snakes.

[Siretsap]

We have tried quite a few substrats for our leopard geckos. And among all of them, there would always be one that would ingest some of the substrat and pass them in their cells. We ended up keeping all of them on news paper (it's ugly) but very quick to clean.

We keep our beardies and uromastix on sand. Never had a problem (baby beardies are kept on paper towel substrat till they are sold).

So from my experience I can say that it all depends on each of the specimens. Not all leopard geckos will act the same on substrate as no beardie or uromastix will all act the same.

On a side note, often when you see a lizard ingesting sand or earth often, it may be a sign of mineral or calcium lack in their system. We put a little bit of calcium and vitamins in a cup once in a while to let the leo's lick it up.

[wetlander]

Never had an issue with sand either..for lizards, i think its more of an issue with snakes.

Although this may be more of issue with snakes, it would make sense that snakes living on sand would have no problem if the same applies for lizards. Most of us keep snakes or feed snakes on substrates that our snakes cannot consume i.e. paper, but if a snake lives in a forest it would only make sense that while eating it would consume bark, wood chips, leaves, pebbles...all kinds of non digestable stuff. So the same question applies to other substrates such as coconut or reptibark. Is impaction a real concern or are we just being over cautious to ensure our wonderful herps won't be injured?

[DragnDrop]

Normally they get all the necessary nutrients from their food. If some minerals are lacking, they go looking for them in other places. Calcium is the most common missing nutrient, and is available in the soil. Instinctively they go looking for it there, eating soil/sand/substrate. The trouble is that when they do start eating substrate, they're in pretty bad shape.

Take calcium as an example, work with only this one, then you can apply it to all the other minerals (vitamins are obtained from food, not substrate). Normal healthy (even wild ones are healthy) properly nourished geckos don't eat substrate, they have a good amount of stored calcium for normal day-to-day living and would expect to get more from their diet. A good variety of food in the wild guarantees they'll get what they need. In captivity they should be getting a good diet too, or enough supplements so they don't have to go looking for more in other places. They do ingest odd substrate particles accidentally with their prey or while tasting/licking/sensing the presence of others. What the normal healthy ones don't do is eat it by the mouthful, or even meal size portions. Those mouthfuls are the troublemakers. Small amounts can be passed under normal circumstances, but not if eaten by the bucket full. Our captives can easily be missing calcium and other minerals. The supplements we use, no matter how good a brand, can and probably do miss out on some minerals, or maybe just don't have enough. Most cases of substrate eating seem to be geckos who don't get proper supplementation -- they either get none, just an 'el cheapo' brand that's got nothing worthwhile, or not enough of some/many/all the important minerals. Generally speaking, the most common victims of impaction from substrate are growing juveniles and hatchlings or breeding females. Very few adult males eat substrate, they don't need as many minerals and even those only in smaller quantities. So the young and breeding females go looking for the missing mineral. If they're after calcium, the detect it in the calcium sand and go hog-wild eating it. Even with silica or quart based sand, they'll still eat it because instinct has taught them that calcium is in the soil.... maybe not concentrated, but if you eat enough of it you'll get calcium. Desperate measures, but it's better than nothing.


If you want to keep them on a substrate they encounter in nature, you have to make sure they're supplemented the way nature intended, otherwise they'll take matters into their own hands and go looking for it in a natural way ... eating sand/soil.

What it all boils down to is that any soil/sand/substrate eating gecko is most likely desperate to get the missing mineral(s). There's always a screwball in the crowd who'll eat anything, and I'm sure there's a leo here and there that does eat substrate 'for the fun of it' (I ate a cup of sand and all I got to show for it was a tummy ache ). They don't naturally eat soil as part of their diet. If they were meant to, they'd probably have evolved into worms.

[Will]

Personally, I've had no problem with it. I only have a single Beardie though. He was on carpet the first year, and then course play-sand from then on. He's fed out of a deep ceramic bowl to keep the food in and sand out. It looks nice, easy to clean, cheap, etc. But again, that's one animal, not much to base an argument on...

[HeatherRose]

There's always a screwball in the crowd who'll eat anything, and I'm sure there's a leo here and there that does eat substrate 'for the fun of it' (I ate a cup of sand and all I got to show for it was a tummy ache ).

Why do I get the idea that the majority of this group of people are composed of herpers?

[~nessa~]

hi, i did have a leo but he died.....i only had him 4 month.

i went back to the place i got him from to say i was worried about him (he was not eating and i was sure he was eating sand..only lots) i took him with me and they were not intrested. They made me feel stupid for worrying about him......well i took him home and a few weeks later he was really ill...i took him to another person who owned a shop near by...he took a look at him ten mins later he said he had become impacted....he died that night.

i did provide calcium and vitamins ...a few weeks ago i went back to the place i bought him, i told them he died, they just shrugged it off and walked off. i dont go there no more!!!!!

i now have one BTS and two berbers. the berbers are on calci sand and doing great..(touch wood)

[peterm15]

i havent had a prob with my leos... not licking sand or anything.. the ocasional accidental while feeding... but to be safe i keep them on the digestable stuff... i dont offer them a cal dish( i did they never touched it so now i dont) i dust every feeding alternating between cal and multi... i use the cheaper one ( multi???) all the time and the cal every two or three feedings... a breeder and a vet looked at them examined for a while and said there extreemly healthy... so im just gonna keep doing what im doing... i think it has more to do with play sand or moist clumpy sand than the stuff made for reps

[RepTylE]

No matter how well we setup our animals, they are still confined and I believe that even animals like leopard geckos for instance get a little neurotic in captivity and develop habits and quirks from time to time.
You ever see a polar bear at the zoo pace back in forth and see the ground worn down where it is moving around? That indicates a neurotic behaviour from being confined. It's just my opinion but I think that maybe the ingestion of substrate might not always be a dietary problem. The fact that some instances of ingestion occured even when proper supplentation procedures are followed supports this to certain extent.
It's up to the person keeping the animals to decide whether they want to take the risk but I am certainly not prepared to do that.

[Linds]

I prefer to avoid sand in most instances. Even animals that naturally are found in sandy areas (such as sandboas), experience some problems (such as sand abrasions, causing them to be dull all over). Also, it is next to impossible to replicate an animal's natural environment in captivity, so certain alternations need to be made in order to ensure the best possible environment. Bascially, I feel just because an animal may naturally encounter sand, doesn't mean it is necessarily the best thing in captivity. This isn't to say that it has no use in captivity, as it most certainly can be used in some instances.

Originally posted by Big_V

As for evolution, they of course should have no problems living on sand as this is their natural habitat.

Leos do not naturally come from sandy areas. Desert doesn't necessarily mean sand, it is used to describe any area in which there is little rainfall, sparse vegitation, and extreme temperatures. A lot of these places have hard ground, rocks, etc. Many people make the mistake of assuming if it is a desert animal, it must come from areas covered in loose sand, when this isn't often the case.

Originally posted by DragnDrop
There's always a screwball in the crowd who'll eat anything...

LOL much like our friend KC... worst thing I recall was the time he ate 9 pennies and a beer cap (folded in half) for $14 and change - all in nickels and quarters and other small change

[Siretsap]

While they do hide in rocky areas, leopard geckos will still hunt on the sand. So most of their movement is made on sand, when they are hiding in the rocks is when they are hiding during day time.