With permission, I have been able to gather a few pictures for you to show the effects of sand on a Bearded Dragon's system. I am not here to say whether sand is good or bad, but rather to show these pictures and draw your own conclusion.
Picture 1: A 5 month old dragon and a system flush. The jar shows what came from his system.
Here are the owner comments: BY THE WAY, SHE IS A VERY EXPERIENCED HERP OWNER AND VETERINARIAN. "I bought this little girl from a reputable breeder who uses playsand. Having seen a lot of problems with sand, I asked a veterinary surgeon who specializes in disorders of the bowels to do an epigastric lavage. This is a procedure where pressurized gases, enzymatic cleaners and sterile saline are forced through the digestive system to loosen up anything clinging to the structures inside the bowels. The effluent is collected, dehydrated and analyzed.
That vial is roughly 10% sand, the rest of the bulk is the enzymes from the cleaner, undigested food, feces, and bile salts which all tends to collect together.
This girl would probably have lived for 3 to 5 years before starvation killed her."
Picture 2: Where sand was built up in the bowel and impacted and food and feces could not pass through.
Picture 3: Where the bowel got so enlarged it was actually turning black and dying.
This is also a good article on a trial done on CalciSands. It's a good read.
Article
The really tough thing about sand is there are 2 kinds of impaction. An acute impaction is when a clump totally blocks off the bowel and causes sudden death and Chronic impaction happens on a grain-by-grain basis as sand accumulates in the gut. Weight loss and death are the only symptoms of a chronic impaction and it’s the third most common cause of death in bearded dragons, behind fatty liver disease and parasites. Most owners don’t know their dragon has a chronic impaction until their animal is starving to death because there’s too much sand in the gut to allow them to absorb nutrients.
Finer sands are less likely to form a clump and block off the intestines totally, which is called an acute impaction. However, they are far more likely to stick to the intestinal walls and interfere with nutrient absorption. Most animals do not suddenly die from being kept on sand, they slowly starve to death over a period of several years. It’s only after they die and the owner brings the dragon in for necropsy that they usually find out there was an ongoing chonic impaction of sand.
In an acute impaction where a clump of something blocks off the bowels you will find a bloated animal that isn’t pooping. When you feel the belly you can usually (but not always) feel a hard spot or lump. In cases with a chronic impaction, it happens so slowly over time that most animals are dead and a necropsy is the first indicator of what went wrong. Weighing your animals at least once a month to pick up gradual weight loss can help you detect it more quickly but it’s not an exact science. Internal organs tend to be highly resilient for as long as they can, but once a condition reaches a critical point they fail very quickly. Sometimes there isn’t much weight loss before they die.
Again, I am not recommending one substrate over the other. I think every animal, be it a bearded dragon, snake, or gecko etc. should be given the best possible life in captivity as possible. I don't think these articles and pictures should be used as "scare tactic's" either. I just wanted to show what I have collected over the last little while and thought I would share. We have made the choice not to use any substrates other than carpet or papertowel, but again, OUR CHOICE.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and articles and hope they help with the discussion on substrates and impaction.
Sean & Laura
Jose's Hut
Hybrid Mode
