I can't speak for other brands of children's playsand but the Argos one is not dusty, seems to be medium sized grains that are soft to the touch if that makes any sense. So it's not so fine that I'm worried about him possibly breathing in small particles but not so large that it's rough. I've pretty much used it from day one for roughly a year and a half now. Spike seems to like it. He has a really big litter tray and likes to pee in two corners and uses the third to wash in. I have it fairly deep and he seems to enjoy having a good dig in it
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I wouldn't use it as the only substrate in a hamsters regular cage either but certainly many people have sand sections or containers with sand in hamster cages. I do agree that putting sand directly on the base (so not in a container) could get awkward for cleaning and so on, especially if the hamster decides to use it as a toilet. Also it would get mixed in with other substrates. But if using it for the whole of a cage that is just being used as a play cage then that should be fine because then it's just a really large container when you think about it. It sounds like a fun idea actually
