Is this sand ok?

[Dellecatty]

Hi all!

We recently got a new baby dragon after our 10 year old guy passed away. He’s 3 months old, and we’ve never had a baby before as we got our first dragon when he was about 1.

Last week I decided to get him some sand as I prefer the look of it - in the past I’ve used regular play sand, but at my local reptile shop I saw they had this tan coloured sand that I liked, that they had bagged up themselves. I didn’t think to screen it, as it seemed dry and soft enough, but the more I look at it the more I wonder if it’s safe!

The baby today decided he likes to hunt his crickets in his enclosure, which is why I thought to ask, as he’ll probably be ingesting some.

He normally poops like a champ, so I guess over the next few days I’ll monitor his pooping with the sand, but here are some photos of it! There’s a lot of hard clumps, some tiny rock bits and some shiny looking bits too. Should I take it out and sift it? Or should it be ok?

Thanks so much!










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[Dellecatty]

Another photo of it:




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[Dellecatty]

Never mind, decided to sift it for my own piece of mind. Found a LOT of rocks!


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[dragonlover1]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Sifting the sand is a good idea, those big lumps could prove a problem. What type of sand is it?
A lot of people here use washed play sand (available from Bunnings etc.) it's about $7 for 20kg or red desert sand from the pet shop costs about $25 for 5kg. Big difference in price for not a lot of difference in habitat. Some people choose red over white, I use both as I have a few different species.

[Dellecatty]

Thank you!

Yes, I found a lot of rocks after sifting!

I’m not sure what kind of sand it is, it’s from a reputable reptile shop near me and I forgot to ask where they source it. I’ve used both play sand and red sand in the past with my other dragon, but didn’t like the colours!

Sifting this sand produced a fair amount of dust though, which I’m not sure is usual for sand as I never sifted my other sand in the past.


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[dragonlover1]

Some sand is very bad quality, it might be river sand which has sharp edges (obviously bad for little dragons ingesting it) or beach sand which has smoother edges or quarry sand which is even worse than river sand. So it's good that you are being careful, as it's your little friend whose health you are looking after.

[Dellecatty]

Thanks for your replies!

Hmm, it’s really quite a fine sand, I don’t think it’s river or quarry. They had bagged it as “aquarium/reptile” sand. Perhaps I’ll call them tomorrow and ask them for more info.

Thanks again, I appreciate it!


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