Sand/Calcium Sand/Colored Sand

[Geckomaster743]

Hey every one, I just thought i would submit a review about the dangers of Sand and Calcium sand.
First of all Sand is very dangerous if ingested it can cause Impaction which is very life threatening. On top of that Calcium sand that is colored can chance the color of your geckos body because this absorb the toxins of the colored sand over time because of exposure which can poison them. I do not recommend sand to any reptile. Not bearded Dragons, Not leopard geckos,Anoles, Crested Geckos Etc. In the wild they are not exposed to sand as much and in videos if you see a professional handling a bearded dragon and displaying it at a reptile show its probably ok. A lot of the time people use sand at reptile shows to display bearded dragons because its easier. As long as its not over a 6 - 7 hour period with out feeding them is not too risky. ( Don't think because your not feeding them they will not ingest the sand. Some geckos being to lick the sand like they do with Calcium and it comes in to there System ). I personally recommend DONT ever use sand at Reptile shows, At Home, Travel, Etc. Not any where.

 

[Jordan1]

Great review i dont ever think ill use sand with any reptile i have or ever will thanks for the very detailed review i hope this can save some geckos or any other reptile

 

[Josh2]

This is a helpful warning of the dangers of sand as a substrate. It often looks the most natural and can be easy to clean up but it is not worth the danger to your animal in the end - and in my opinion...

 

[Jetfire]

Not to mention that the dyed calcium sand will dye your geckos....I rescued a stenodactylus that had a purple belly because the chick I got it from kept it on the purple calcium sand (she said it was too pretty to be bad for the gecko)

 

[Geckomaster743]

Not to mention that the dyed calcium sand will dye your geckos....I rescued a stenodactylus that had a purple belly because the chick I got it from kept it on the purple calcium sand (she said it was too pretty to be bad for the gecko)

What a loser. There should be a license for who they sell animals too. Atleast some experience and training classes. Last year when i went to Petsmart ( I always go just to look around to see if i can find some thing cool for my Geckos like a new hide or some thing ) and i saw this girl dragging her dog and the collar was choking him all because she wanted to pet another dog. I couldn't go home thinking that dog would be ok because of the way that 6 Year old was treating her dog. Spoiled little runt. I also dislike this lady at my Petsmart named Pam because when she gave me my 7th Gecko ( The one that lost the tail to another gecko ) She shook the tree that took up most of the room of the cage and all the geckos were flinging around and i thought she squashed one. After that when she finally got the one i wanted she grabbed it by its tail and tossed it in to the carrier like it was trash. If i could buy that Petsmart location she would be fired in an instant.

 

[Jetfire]

I cringe every time I go into Petsmart...the last time I went the idiots working there had baby cresteds in the same enclosure as half-grown Pacman frogs.I tried to bring it to the managers attention (I talked to as many people as I could about it), but they didn't seem to care. I explained that they would soon run out of cresteds, but they just blew me off like I had no idea what I was talking about.

 

[Geckomaster743]

I cringe every time I go into Petsmart...the last time I went the idiots working there had baby cresteds in the same enclosure as half-grown Pacman frogs.I tried to bring it to the managers attention (I talked to as many people as I could about it), but they didn't seem to care. I explained that they would soon run out of cresteds, but they just blew me off like I had no idea what I was talking about.

They do the same to me. I can bet I know 100X More then the average pets-mart Employe. Pacman Frogs live in CritterCareers for the rest of there lives... I hate Petsmart and i almost never see any one who's smart and caring there. There is only 1 person that i know that is nice and that is Amber. She admitted to me that the Enclosures for the Ginny Pigs are pretty small and she pretty much memorized a care sheet that made sense. She makes it look so hard. She talks to you about how you need to put olive oil around there thighs to help them shed there fur and that they squeak when they get home and whole bunch of crap. If you ask me she's the only devoted Petsmart member i ever met.

 

[Jetfire]

I have a friend who briefly worked at Petsmart , she said that it's really sad there-most of the employees don't like reptiles to begin with, so generally don't devote as much time to basic maintenance as they do to the birds, fish, and small animals. The managers acted like they didn't care if a herp got sick, usual answer was "just put it in quarantine in the back", where they got even less care until they usually died. It makes me sick just thinking about it. Situations like this occur far too often in big-box petstores, which is even more reason to support your local herp shop!

 

[Geckomaster743]

I have a friend who briefly worked at Petsmart , she said that it's really sad there-most of the employees don't like reptiles to begin with, so generally don't devote as much time to basic maintenance as they do to the birds, fish, and small animals. The managers acted like they didn't care if a herp got sick, usual answer was "just put it in quarantine in the back", where they got even less care until they usually died. It makes me sick just thinking about it. Situations like this occur far too often in big-box petstores, which is even more reason to support your local herp shop!

I wish i could take the sick geckos.... When i came to buy my first gecko last year they told me that was all they had except for the one with the broken leg in the back. I can bet u it was there fault and that gecko never made it..

 

[Amanda1]

Wow, you guys are making my Petsmart sound great. Of course the cages are still way too small, but I've never seen them mix species or have anything dangerous in the habitats, and I've never seen any sick animals.

 

[LeoLover1]

Mine too, the lady in the reptile area seems relatively knowledgable and cares.

 

[Geckomaster743]

There is another lady and she's pretty nice and she seems to know what she's doing but she doesn't help with handling the geckos often she mainly gives me mealworms when i come to get them and she gave me advice on that one time my 5th and 6th Geckos weren't eating. Turned out Mealworms weren't exciting enough so i brought home some crickets and dropped them in. Eventually i taught all my geckos that when i drop some thing from above or hand it to them its food. And for Achilles since I've had him for almost a year 8 - 9 Months he has learned if i tap on the glass gently he follows the Sound and finds he worm, Its pretty cool. Besides that Ive always seriously hated any Pets-mart employe I've met. The Reptile/Amphibian section is worse like i said because the food is always a mess, The crickets are left in the cage which means if the animal dosent eat it the Cricket may nibble on its soft parts, Like its eyes,soft skin and other things. They really do not know what they are doing. Atleast every one is on Reptile carpet.

 

[Jordan1]

at my pets store in cape breton they only have thin ( VERY THIN ) paper towel as substrate, they leave crickets and mealworms in the tank and there are over 15 geckos in a 5 gallon tank hooked to the wall its a sin, and the water dishes in the tank have slime built up on the bottom of the bowl. Also they only have mealworms, superworms and crikets so i cant buy any other food source for my geckos and occasionally they will have horned worms but theyre 10$ per 5 worms

 

[Jordan1]

and theres usually only 1 or 2 small hides in the tank

 

[Geckomaster743]

at my pets store in cape breton they only have thin ( VERY THIN ) paper towel as substrate, they leave crickets and mealworms in the tank and there are over 15 geckos in a 5 gallon tank hooked to the wall its a sin, and the water dishes in the tank have slime built up on the bottom of the bowl. Also they only have mealworms, superworms and crikets so i cant buy any other food source for my geckos and occasionally they will have horned worms but theyre 10$ per 5 worms

Thats a Sick pets Store, Here we have 7 In a 5 Gallon but there all babies. You said you have 15??? That is Sick.

 

[Jordan1]

yes i know i counted myself and they only have a few reptile supplies the rest is small animals fish and birds

 

[Rylee]

My Petco here is bad too. They have about 6-8 in a 5 gallon and the water is always low and disgusting the mealworms in the bowl are dead and only one hid. The cage is always dirty and all the geckos are always skinny, sick or injured. I've seen one with a missing eye and so far about three with freshly pulled off tails. The petsmart is better, but no by much. I buy all my reptiles (that arent from breeders or shows) from a local store called carols critters. they have a lot more to choose from and take care of them so much better.

 

[Geckomaster743]

I went to Pet Supplies Plus today and i was so happy! I finnaly found a petstore that gives space to there animals and handles them with care. And Dang Rylee that sounds Crazy! I see my petsmart has very few pulled tails except for the stupid lady Pam who has probably pulled some tails.

 

[BuddyTony]

at my pets store in cape breton they only have thin ( VERY THIN ) paper towel as substrate, they leave crickets and mealworms in the tank and there are over 15 geckos in a 5 gallon tank hooked to the wall its a sin, and the water dishes in the tank have slime built up on the bottom of the bowl. Also they only have mealworms, superworms and crikets so i cant buy any other food source for my geckos and occasionally they will have horned worms but theyre 10$ per 5 worms

Same with my pet store in dartmouth they had a full grown monitor with a tiny hide home and a 10 gallon with 18 geckos and a 5 gallon with 1 small hide and 9 babie geckos

 

[Rylee]

I went to Pet Supplies Plus today and i was so happy! I finnaly found a petstore that gives space to there animals and handles them with care. And Dang Rylee that sounds Crazy! I see my petsmart has very few pulled tails except for the stupid lady Pam who has probably pulled some tails.

Yeah I dont know if its from the people there or overcrowding.. probably both