Play sand for substrate

ShadowFlash · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 2:33 pm Post subject: Playground sand

I actually use playground sand for a portion of my enclosure. My B/W loves it, as it absorbs heat nicely, and she does have fun digging in it ( It's about 8-10 inches deep at its deepest ). She also uses it much like a litter box, which makes it easier to clean up. The rest of the enclosure is a mixture of black soil and peatmoss. Just make sure you use playgound sand and not ordinary sand. Playground sand has rounded edges on the grains, normal sand does not.

Frizz · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:33 pm Post subject:

Hi ShadowFlash

I will be interested to see the responses that you get on this as I was told never to use sand with our Tegu when we enquired about good and bad alternative substrates as it was too easily ingested by them. But it sounds like yours loves it so once again we could have been steered wrong by some rep stores here

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1.0.0 Louie Our Red Argentine Tegu
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1.0.0 Kermit Our Albino Horned Frog
1.1.0 Casper & Cleo Our Ghost Carp

angelrose · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:49 pm Post subject:

Hi ShadowFlash, I want to Welcome you to theTegu family.

first do you feed your tegu in a separate bin ? because, If ingested could cause serious problems, get into their eyes (scratches), even death.

and how can sand hold the humidity which is very important for several reasons.

I now use a mix of organic top soil, cypress mulch and leafy litter, it's more like their natural habitat.

they do dig in it as well and make burrows. good luck and do take care of your tegu. they are wonderful.

jose2187 · Honored Member Joined: Mar 08, 2008 Posts: 261

If sand works for you thats great, but personally would never use sand, It would not hold humidity well and with having moist mulch or soil plus the sand, you would have the tegu get moist from the soil then getting fine sand dust and sand grains drying the tegus skin out and with a tegu digging in the sand then walking on the soil I would worry about ringing of the fingers and poor shedding.

ShadowFlash · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 6:39 pm Post subject:

well, as I said, I only use it for a portion of my enclosure ( about a 24" X 18" Kidney bowl shaped area ). The sand is in its own hand-formed fiberglass bowl with fish tank gravel permanently embedded in the walls. It was originally designed to hold water, but it sprung a leak early on. the edge of the kidney bowl shape has a 4" flat, also embedded with gravel. The whole area is raised about 1-1/2" from the usual hight of the soil/peat moss mix. The need to use true playground sand can't be stressed enough. Problems with ingestion and impaction with sand are primarily caused by the extremely sharp edges on normal grains of sand, which can tear up the inside something fierce. True playground sand has polished edges. A quick comparison under a microscope or even a high powered magnifying glass would make the problem with normal sand obvious. My Tegu has an underground "lair" approx. 2ft. X 5ft. for her burrow, also filled with soil/peatmoss, with a tunnel leading to the main level. The main level has about 6" of the soil/peat moss mix. Yes, I feed my Tegu in her enclosure. She's 4-5 Years old now. Also, she does in fact use the sand pit for a litter box most of the time, so Its greatly convenient for cleaning. The whole tank is 2' deep X 6' long. I'm in process of designing her new enclosure now seeing as at 38" Long, she's definitely outgrown it. I have no idea what "ringing of the fingers" means, but have had no problems with this set-up for the 3-1/2 years I've used it.

jose2187 · Honored Member Joined: Mar 08, 2008 Posts: 261

reds suffer more from ringing its when shed gets stuck on the fingers and the fingers fall off, black and whites don't have as many shed problems as reds. And like I said in the beginning of my post if it works for you thats great , but I wouldn't use sand for a tropical reptile even if it is a small amount

txrepgirl · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:56 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the Tegu forum family.Could you by any chance post a picture of your enclosure ? that would be nice.Thanks.Good luck with your Tegu.