Dust baths?

[jelarsen]

Zoo Med Repti Sand - Reptile - Sale - PetSmart

this is a quartz based sand. Would this be better than the Chinchill sand?
Reviews say no dust and one person used it with their hamster. What do you guys think?

[jelarsen]

ive actually been reading on another form that chinchilla sand is based with silica with is both bad for our hamsters and us if you guy would like to take a look at it.
Greasy Syrian Fur - General Care & Health - Hamster Hideout Forum also one person recomands a calcium carbonite sand do you think that is safe for hamsters?

[Biscotti]

Originally Posted by jelarsen

ive actually been reading on another form that chinchilla sand is based with silica with is both bad for our hamsters and us if you guy would like to take a look at it.
Greasy Syrian Fur - General Care & Health - Hamster Hideout Forum also one person recomands a calcium carbonite sand do you think that is safe for hamsters?

As noted in previous posts, calcium carbonite sand are not safe as it will cause kidney problems if ingested.

I've done some research into the sand issue as well as read the debates on HH, and I tend to think the silica argument is unnecessarily alarmist. Here's why: Sand can pretty much be divided into 2 types, quartz-based (silica) or aragonite (calcium carbonite). Since calcium carbonite sand is unsafe, the only alternative is quartz-based sand. The studies that showed silica lung damage in human is based on long term exposure to silica dust for those who worked in the quarry for years. In general, hamsters will never live long enough to accumulate enough silica dust for there to be a problem (and hams don't stay in the sand 24/7). And anyway, if you are using low-dust or almost no dust sand, it won't be an issue to begin with. This is also why chinchilla sand instead of dust is recommended. Hope that helped.

[jelarsen]

so i got chinchilla sand and its kinda dust to me but i bought what i showed you guys on here...ill use it for time being by i think im gonna give the rest to my friend who has a chinchilla and next time ill buy the quartz bases sand. I bought this Super Pet Chinchilla Bath Sand - Grooming - Small Pet - PetSmart very fine. but this as you can see is my first time buying it lol so who am i to really know. But next time ill go with the reptile sand thanks for everyones help. I hope my hamster likes it

[BethPower]

Originally Posted by lucyeleanor

That looks fine. It says that it is dust free and someone has reviewed it in respect to other rodents. However, it is a little pricey? I don't know how it is in the USA, but here in the UK me and Bethpower both get our chinchilla sand from the petstore sold in premeasured bags. We get 1kg for £1. You would just have to be careful and make sure that it is sand, not dust, which should be easy to tell by the texture.

Yer, as Lucy says, we can get hold of sand quite cheaply here so you may want to have a rummage around some local pet stores to see if you can find a cheaper deal, although the one in the link also looks fine and if you are prepared to pay that price then as I said before you can recycle sand as long as it is relatively clean so wouldn't have to use a new lot every time you cleaned the cage.

[BethPower]

Lol whoops, was replying off my email so didn't notice you'd already bought some. Hope you do find some You like eventually! Hamsters really do love it! =D

[jelarsen]

Also i would like to say it is very good at cleaning them. He doesn't really like being in it. He was greasy behind his head/ in between shoulders so i sprinkled some on the area and rubbed it in then he groomed himself and his fur is grease free and very soft. So i like the results of the stuff