Desert sand dyed fur.

[gerbilord]

Hi all, I bought some sand today for Pippin and have checked on her just now, her fur has been dyed orange by the sand. Is this a cause for concern? Could this be harmful to her if she grooms herself?
I’m probably worrying about nothing but thought it was best to check.
This is the sand in question:
www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/pets-at-home-red-desert-sand-5kg#

[Markpd]

How weird! Afraid I can't help you, I'm puzzled that it dyed her, is that sand itself dyed? Or was it damp?

[gerbilord]

I don't know, it definitely wasn't damp, the bag says natural sand so I assumed it wasn't dyed, I might try to email p@h tomorrow and see if they can give me any more information about it, nowhere on the packaging does it say it is dyed, but it also doesn't state that it isn't... :s

[betty]

I am no expert on this at all - but I would assume from all my reading about what sand actually is - that grains of sand are solid pieces of rock and so wouldn't actually be able to stain anything on their own. They could however (if they were light or at the small geological size spectrum of sand) stick to something moist temporarily.

I would assume - and again - I am no geologist here - but usually it is dust or smaller particles of something that would be physically be able to move off the sand and cause the 'staining'.

Saying that, I don't know how dyes move - and I would have thought they acted very similarly to inks which move into or onto anything they contact - moist or seemingly not.

I know that some coloured sands are truly real though - having been to many a worldwide beach (and the Isle of Wight) so having 'real' sand this reddish-brown colour isn't something unnatural in of itself. However many of these areas of different sands aren't usually commercially mined.

Do let us know if it 'washes' off with additional normal sand baths?

[gerbilord]

Thank you for responding, I've emailed p@h so hopefully they'll let me know in the next few days more about the sand.
What sand do you use for your gerbils? I've gone through so many different types trying to find a safe one, there's so many mixed opinions about which sands are good to use, some people saying calcium sand is unsafe, or quartz, silica etc, I'd love a recommendation for one that works without any problems.

[LilyandDaisy]

If you wash the sand, does any colour run out?

Sand is an issue that confuses me too. I think most people agree calcium sand is best avoided.
I've used this in the past and have no complaints. At the moment I'm trying this, because it's slightly cheaper than the JR Farm sand, Although it says dust, actually has fairly large granules, so it's more like a slightly dusty sand. It's not really much different to the JR Farm sand. I was hesitant to use it but it's been a few weeks now and I haven't any issues. I'm not sure yet if I'll continue using it or go back to the JR Farm one.

I also have a bag of Argos play sand but I find it gets really smelly, really quickly. I suppose quartz sand doesn't absorb moisture or odours in the same way as clay-based sands. So now I just use it for digging boxes during free roaming and stick to clay-based sands for the sand baths/toilets. It's also rather red and the reviews mention it staining clothes. It hasn't stained my gerbils but probably something to keep an eye on.

[gerbilord]

Yes, some colour does come out when I rinse the sand.

Thanks for sending me those links, I'll look into getting one of them and I'll let you all know if Pippin's fur goes back to normal with a different sand bath.