I'm FREAKING OUT!!!!

[Ozy]

I cleaned my leo's cage the other day. Under her slate tiles is the petco brand hermit crab sand, because it said it's an excellent heat conductor. She was out of the cage while I was cleaning. Put the sand in a bag to strain it and the bag had a small hole.. I got it all cleaned up and put her stuff back in. Yesterday her poo wasn't as big as normal, but I didn't think much of it. Tonight I went to feed her and there was SAND IN HER FOOD DISH! It looks just like her repashy so I didn't notice at first. IMMEDIATELY thoroughly cleaned her food dish and gave her a bit of vegetable oil. I haven't seen any poop today. Will she be ok if I keep giving her the vegetable oil and do some warm baths? I'm seriously freaking out here!!!! She is very active, nice fat tail, her warm side is ALWAYS 91-94, I check it frequently with the ZooMed infrared digital thermometer, she has a moist hide and all that stuff. There WERE mealworms in the food dish, so I'm really worried as to how much sand she might have ingested.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

A gecko would have to eat a fair amount to get impacted and I don't think they normally chow down on sand on sight. Unless you really think she would have eaten a tablespoon or more I would think she should be totally fine but would keep an eye on her for a few days if you're worried.

 

[Ozy]

No I don't think she ate very much of it. It was only in there for one day and a lot of times I take the mealworms out with tweezers and put them in front of her on the slate tile to hunt them. I was just worried because it's hermit crab sand. Will that hurt her? It's SUPER fine grained, that's why I mistook it for the Repashy. But tonight I pulled her dish out because I replace the Repashy everyday and thought... That looks weird. And I smelled it and felt it and was like OMG!! IT'S SAND!!! *scream*

 

[Ozy]

I went ahead and gave her the vegetable oil, because better safe than sorry. And I don't want to wait until she's REALLY sick and skinny. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is what my grandma always says.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Eating a bit of sand isn't a horrible thing - eating a lot of it is. As I understand it, a small amount of sand in their gut may be beneficial. There was a recent thread about the sand debate. Search for "sand" and it should come up.

 

[Ozy]

Ok. I checked her cage and she pooped. Normal solid brown log, big white urate. WHEW! I never thought I would be so glad to see poop. hahaha