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Post by degulover21 on Jun 23, 2021 14:18:43 GMT
So awhile ago I brought chinchilla sand for Degus and I didn’t realize it had calcium powder in it, didn’t give it to them but the other day the girls opened the bag. And was rolling In it and running though there bedding and hay. Just still worried cos they’ve jumped in it again and rolled in it and jumped in the bag of foraging.
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Post by savvy on Jun 23, 2021 20:38:24 GMT
I can't find any information on it, but I'm sure others will know.
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Post by degulover21 on Jun 23, 2021 22:02:41 GMT
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Post by deguconvert on Jun 23, 2021 23:57:25 GMT
I think the calcium powder is put in to act as a filler of sorts . . . it is much less expensive for the manufacturer, so they can get greater profit margins from the product. So it's a cheaper product.
I'm unaware of there being any kind of harm in it . . . but it may be somewhat less effective for cleaning their fur. Are you worried that it may harm them?
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Post by moletteuk on Jun 25, 2021 13:00:55 GMT
It's likely to be OK but I couldn't say for sure.
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Post by teemu on Jun 26, 2021 12:48:23 GMT
Calcium in their bathing sand shouldn't be dangerous to degus. It's possible it might be dangerous if they started eating large amounts of it, but then again, just regular sand would likely be dangerous if they ate a lot of it (for different reasons, but still). Your degus are unlikely to actually try to eat the sand in any case, and I can't think of any ill effects that just bathing in it would cause. I'd say it's fine.
Calcium as such is a nutrient that degus need, in any case, and I'm not totally sure the calcium in calcium sand is absorbable anyhow, so I don't really see there being any situations where the calcium content in the sand would cause issues that the sand itself wouldn't cause anyway. It should be safe to bathe in.
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Post by moletteuk on Jun 29, 2021 10:19:30 GMT
teemu it's the potential inhalation of different forms of fine particles that can be an issue with bathing sand.
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Post by teemu on Jun 29, 2021 15:00:24 GMT
Ah, that makes sense. If it's very fine, it could start clouding up when a degu rolls in it. I guess one way to test it out would be to pour some of the sand into a bowl and slap it with a hand, move it around and otherwise disturb it and see how much dust rises up. If it starts billowing at all, it's likely not good for the degus.
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