Beach sand for litter?

[JetFalcon]

Hey can I use beach sand for litter? I live only 10 minutes from the beach so I would rather just take some sand from the beach instead of buying the walnut seed liter for $12 for 25 pounds. Unless do these bird specific litters have an actual component to them like odor control?

[GlassOnion]

Um.... Why did you buy walnut bedding? The best is to use newspaper because you should be monitoring bird poop everyday for any signs of illness. If your bird ever falls sick, there is no way of knowing until its too late if you don't see it's abnormal droppings.

Use newspaper and change it daily, it's actually the best.

[JetFalcon]

Well, the bird poops green and white. Well, dark green and white. I think it's normal poop for a bird, what do you considered abnormal bird crap?

[GlassOnion]

http://www.avianweb.com/poopology.html

Still, newspaper is easier ad more sanitary, it's also free.

[marie83]

Theres a good little saying about beaches, I cant remember the exact words but it's something like 'leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories' I would include sand in that.

Besides that, if your going to go with the sand idea get one thats treated from a petshop, you dont know what little bugs/bacteria are lurking in the beach sand. There are stories of people contracting e-coli from the seaside so what other bugs might it be possible to get?

Sand is an ok choice, but to properly monitor the poo you need to be running the sand through a sieve daily to remove the droppings and waste food which is time consuming. Its easier to monitor the solid parts in the droppings but it will be harder to tell if the runny bits are normal. I used to use sand with my 'tiels sieving it out daily and giving it a full change every 1-2 weeks but its much cheaper, easier, quicker and safer imo to use newspaper.

[gabbagabbawill]

Considering that there is a possibility of introducing sand mites and who knows what kind of bacteria and microbes that could be alive in beach sand, I wouldn't put it in your cage with your bird. Wild birds living on the beach could further contaminate it with avian illnesses.

Ditch the walnut shells. Newspaper is the best way to go, as mentioned before.