Does sand need to be baked?

[foodalishous]

I have been using Sakrete play sand for my gerbils for a few months now and have been baking it each time. I started to wonder if it really needs to be baked. The packaging doesn't say anything about being heat treated and is advertised for pet areas as well. I also haven't seen either of my gerbils eating the sand. I wanted your opinions on if I really need to bake it or not.

[PipSqueak]

I personally think it should be baked. Especially if it doesn’t specify that it’s heat treated. I also recommend sifting it out if you don’t already since when I do I get all of these chunks of rocks that got sifted out. I keep my sand in the garage so if there are any bugs that get in there it also gets killed along with any bacteria.

[teambenji543]

Yes, I bake my sand because I just want to make sure that it’s safe for my gerbils, but if it says that it’s ok to use for pets then it might be ok, but better safe then sorry.

[Scott]

A big reason why it's advertised for play areas and for pets is that it's a natural sand, not manufactured. Manufactured sand has sharp edges; natural sand is more polished and rounded. The main result is that the natural sand is much less likely to bind together when exposed to moisture--i.e., inside an animal's (or kid's) digestive tract. So the safety they had in mind was against it forming clumps if ingested, which would mainly occur if the gerbils' food was sitting in it. It's washed but not sterile sand. Baking couldn't hurt but I don't think not baking would be a significant risk.

Just to note: when the manufacturer says it's meant for pet areas, that usually means for cat litter boxes (see, e.g., here). Not that it can't be used for other purposes, but that's the one they intended.

[Markpd]

The sand I get for my boys says it's been dried/heated already, so I don't bake it.