Background: I have a juvenile Mali named Constantine that I received as a gift from my girlfriend in late November. I assume he’s male and since I’m not planning on breeding him, I’m sticking with my assumption. It’s not like they make skirts for these little dudes anyway. Enclosure is 4 x 2 x 2 tank, UVB 7%, awesome heat gradient (125 basking, 90 ambient with a cool side of 80). Diet is escarole, endive, kale, romaine and snowpeas. He loves snowpeas. Substrate is washed playsand.

The issue: I took a stool sample to a vet to have him checked for parasites to be on the safe side. The vet seemed knowledgeable at first, but (pardon the pun) very cagey. She would not volunteer any information or suggestions, and would pretty much agree with whatever I said. She, however, told me to remove the playsand immediately as it can cause impactions. I know this issue is contentious,at best but I have read many breeders online who use playsand and have reported no problems. I’ve yet to read someone report a problem with playsand as a substrate.
I’m not sure how much credibility I give this vet as she suggested that I frequently mist Constantine’s cage (strike one) and I give him calcium supplements every day (strike two, methinks). Also, she said that a basking temperature of 125 is too high (to me, strike three).

So, my question- however convoluted- is this: Should I trust her advice on the playsand? Or should I look for a new herpetologist?

Welcome

I think you listed a number of concerns here with this vet and it looks like she struck out without the use of the sand issue.

Is this person claiming to be a herpetologist on top of a veterinarian? A herpetologist usually works for a zoo or university and is not in the field of treating sick reptiles. While a herpetologist may help you with husbandry issues, history and taxonomy, I think that you should probably focus on a qualified veterinarian who has reptile experience. Look closely at vets who classify themselves with a specialty or emphasis in ‘exotics’ as they sometime see more reptiles in their practice. I do not know any herpetologists who are also veterinarians but I guess the possibility may exist.

I am just curious….. who makes the aquarium you are using? I ask because I am not familiar with any manufacturers that make a 48x24x24 aquarium. Most larger aquariums with the 24 inch width are 72 inches in length. Was this a custom tank?

When I called the hospital (South Plainfield Animal Hospital, for those in NJ... if there are any here) they said the Doctor was a herpetologist. Her credentials, which I did check in the office, only listed her as a DVM. I’m going to give the receptionist the benefit of the doubt and assume she meant "lizard expert" before I cry fraud and let slip the dogs of law. No matter what her credentials the suggestion of misting the cage, lowering the basking temperature and providing calcium suppliments every day- all of which are bad suggestions for a long-lived Uro, in my (albiet minor) experience- cast major aspersions on her base of knowledge. It seems the only advice she gave me worth keeping was to avoid playsand and not to use a hot rock- a fact I was already familiar with after a rather traumatic experience with a pet iguana when I was a child *ahem*

Should I take her advice on switching away from playsand?

(and as for the exact measurements of the cage, I will measure it and post when I get home. I was going from rough memory)

Sand…… could you tell I was trying to get around directly answering this question in my last post? Well, now that you specifically asked, I must come clean.

My views on sand have wavered back and forth throughout the last decade or so. For a period of time -sand was the substrate of choice for most of us that have been keeping reptiles for 20+ (30+ counting my youth) years. When Calci-Sand first came out, many in the hobby (including breeders), jumped on the bandwagon, myself included. After all, calcium is good-right? Well, as research and necropsies started coming in, some of us quickly looked at the facts and decided that calci-sand had more risk than sand and never looked back. During the two+ decades of using sand I had two impactions (necropsy confirmed)- both bearded dragons. One of the impactions occurred on sand but I am not completely positive whether the other occurred on sand or calci-sand. Of course, I like everyone else, instantly blamed the substrate as we never want to think that ‘we’ ourselves could have done something wrong.

I have thought a lot about the changes in my husbandry practices over the years and the learning process I have been through. I often reflect on the years of blindly following the so called ‘experts’ advice and get frustrated every time I think about this.
In the last several years I have also come back around to thinking about my views on sand substrate. I realize that sand was found upon necropsy in my animals but I question if diet, temperature, and hydration could have been the actual causative agent. I often wonder if I had not followed some of these inadequate practices (diet moderately high in dried pelleted bearded dragon food is one of them), and if I had paid closer attention to precise enclosure temperatures whether the impactions would have even taken place. I am sure that the diet early on for my dragons was too low in moisture and too high in fiber for a true insectivore. Knowing that I increased the overall temperatures and basking spot several times over the years tells me that the enclosure temperatures were far too low early on when I first started keeping beardeds. With all of this in mind I started thinking about the dozens of people that I have known through the years who have used (and are still using) sand without incident. I think about the fact that I myself used sand with a variety of animals for approx 20 years and ended up with just two impactions- one of which might have actually been calci-sand. My personal feeling lately is that sand may not pose a significant problem if we get the rest of the husbandry right.

Think about it, some of the things that cause constipation in humans are dehydration and lack of fiber and exercise. What if these same things are lacking with our uromastyx? Now add in the fact that these animals tend to have higher temperature requirements than most other animals for optimal digestion. Uromastyx have a high fiber diet in the wild and we know that the effectiveness of a herbivore’s digestive system is directly dependent upon fiber. Too low (or too high) has a direct bearing on transit time.
Transit time (food movement through system) is very slow in herbivores compared to other animals. A study on iguanas showed that fiber had a direct impact on transit time as did temperature. Increasing environmental temperatures for iguanas from 86F to 96.8F decreased the transit time from ten days down to three without a change in digestibility. Now think about how this change in transit time was due to just one factor- temperature. We know that fiber also directly impacts this transit time as does hydration. Apply this to our captive uromastyx that have a natural high fiber diet; throw in a little less fiber (or too much), less hydration (too long to explain here), a lot less exercise and a temperature of ‘our’ choosing which is often much too low. What do you have? A feeble attempt at guessing a uromastyx needs and a possible recipe for disaster. Could sand that is normally ingested and moved along now start to sit and accumulate with our inadequate husbandry attempts and much slower transit time? What about those animals being kept in a 20-gallon tank with a 60 watt bulb, a basking spot of 90F, and overall temperatures of 80F? How slow do you think the digestive process is for those animals? As more food and possibly substrate is ingested and accumulated, this puts further stress on the digestive system making it even less efficient and raises the potential for impaction. Would it really matter whether the substrate were sand or millet? I agree with you Matt- with the number of people using sand, I just do not hear what appears to be a ‘high’ percentage of confirmed impactions. Those that I do hear about, I wonder two things- was the impaction confirmed by necropsy and were these impactions a direct result of improper diet, temperatures, fiber or other poor husbandry practices?

There are a few things that I feel firmly about: I do believe that diet, hydration and temperature have a direct bearing on a reptile’s digestive system. I also believe that a well functioning digestive system will be better at passing sand and other substrate that is ingested. (Do I think that all impactions are due to the specific husbandry issues I mentioned above- no. I think an animal that ingests mouthfuls of substrate ,whatever type for whatever reason, needs to be taken off of granular substrate.
Therefore, my answer to your question on whether or not to use sand is that I can neither recommend using it or removing it. I can however recommend paying particular attention to the proper husbandry (as we know and learn it) with whatever substrate you choose to use.

I went to Home Depot last night and spent a good 5 minutes staring at the astroturf (I live a very exciting life) before deciding not to buy it. In the time I’ve had my Uromastyx, he has enjoyed playing in the sand and has not ingested the substrate intentionally. Additionally, sand has the added benefit of heat retention- one substrate issue which I have not, to date, seen discussed at length in this forum.

As you said, herbivores- especially those who rely on hindgut fermentation- face a longer digestive cycle by nature of their physiology. Although my experience here is limited to primatology, I believe the pattern holds true for most on this particular subsistence strategy. My Uromastyx has maintained a fairly regular digestive cycle from what I can observe, with a solid movement every two days- not too shabby considering the fiber intake!

In my holiday shopping this weekend, I will go and buy a patch of astroturf and keep it in reserve with my extra bulbs in the event that I notice any deleterious effects from the sand substrate on my Uromastyx.

-Matt
(P.S. I measure my tank for you and found my estimation to a bit off base. In typical male fashion I appear to have been overly generous in my estimation of its size. The tank measures roughly 32" x 12" x 12". Fine for the juvenile, but will be too snug a full-grown Uromastyx.)