Quick question about sand

[ez2animate]

Ok so I went to a petstore and bought some sand. When we get home and look at it (still in the bag) my dad said it wasn't enough.

I'm wondering if he's right, I have a 20 gallon long, and I bought 10 pounds of ultra fine vita sand. Is that enough for the tank? If not
how much more do I need?

 

[Tony C]

Vita-sand is not a good substrate to use. I would take it back, and if you want to use sand you will be better off with natural sand.

 

[gitrdone0420]

I dont recommend sand at all. I recommend repti-carpet or tile.

 

[ez2animate]

Thanks for answering the question. I knew this would happen. Yes I know some people hate sand, yes I know the dangers, but can someone just answer the question instead of preeching why sand is bad?

 

[Tony C]

You probably need 20 pounds, but once again, natural sand is a much better choice than vita-sand. It's less expensive too.

 

[Khrysty]

You could just pour it in and check. If it's not enough, then buy more.

I won't lecture you, but TBH, though, if you're gonna go for sand, regular play sand is the way to go. This stuff doesn't dissolve all the way like it's supposed to ands get gummy and stuck in the gecko's. Obviously, play sand does not. Of course, I'm sure you know the debate that with proper husbandry ANY substrate, even loose, dissolvable substrate is fine for your gecko.

It's your decision, no one else's.

 

[sammer021486]

a 20kg or ~45lbs bag of sand covers about 20L"x12W"x4"D.

I am not sure how much it costs for the 10lbs bags, but I do know that you can get the ~45lbs bag of fine sand from Home Depot for around $5.

A very simple way to guess at how much area the sand will cover is to take the dimensions of the bag. That will give you a rough idea of how big of an area one bag will cover.

I am not preaching, just giving my opinion on those types of sand. I see many snakes and lizards brought to my local pet store that have been kept on the coloured sands and a lot of them have been dyed the colour of the sand. I saw one bearded dragon that I thought was so cool at first glance because I literally thought that it was blue. Turned out it was kept on the vita-sand and the sand had leached its dye onto the beardie.

 

[OneFootedAce]

You could just pour it in and check. If it's not enough, then buy more.

I won't lecture you, but TBH, though, if you're gonna go for sand, regular play sand is the way to go. This stuff doesn't dissolve all the way like it's supposed to ands get gummy and stuck in the gecko's. Obviously, play sand does not. Of course, I'm sure you know the debate that with proper husbandry ANY substrate, even loose, dissolvable substrate is fine for your gecko.

It's your decision, no one else's.

:main_yes:

 

[ez2animate]

I'm just going to buy another bag.