In the discussion on beach sand, Debbie Riccio said:
 
>I was not talking about digging in the sand, I was commenting about BLOWING
>sand.  Sand contains silica - same stuff they make glass from
 
Well, yeah, and silica can cause silicosis with a high degree of exposure
over a long time.  Using the same argument, cotton can also cause
byssinosis, too, but most of us use cotton towels, blankets or other items
for ferret bedding without ill effect.  A little common sense can prevent
most fuzzies from any serious sand inhalation.  If it's windy and the
ferrets are sneezing or wheezing then they need to go back to the carrier or
back home.  I don't think I'd take my guys to Kitty Hawk, for example.
Orville and Wilbur Wright launched their plane from the dunes there because
of the constant winds blowing in off the ocean, and so it could be pretty
dusty.  However, the local water reservoir has a few human-made beaches that
aren't very dusty/breezy.
 
BTW, I fully agree about the potential hazards of UV radiation.  I wouldn't
take my ferrets to a beach during midday unless there was a heavy overcast
above, and I agree that most daylight could be painful or harmful to albino
ferrets.
 
>Dirt seems a lot safer than sand - it's more moist and compacted - not so
>much like dust particles.
 
Maybe dirt up North, but in the South we have lovely things like hookworm,
whipworm, ascaris, tapeworm, not to mention fungi, nematodes, bacteria and
other nasties in the soil.  Beach sand has fewer parasite eggs and larvae
than the ecosystem under the azalea jungle in the back yard where the
neighborhood cats scat.  Besides, if you go to the beach early in the day
when the sand is still damp from the evening dew, there's little risk of
dust.
 
>In the wild, they are able to make a tunnel......can a ferret really make a
>tunnel in a pile of dry sand, or is he fighting a losing battle?
 
Does it matter?  Mine seem to love anything they can do in the sand, whether
they can tunnel or not.  BTW, I use builders' sand specifically because the
granules are relatively large and so it's fairly dust free.  One of the
advantages of sand as a plaything is that it's as cheap as dirt!  (Sorry...I
couldn't resist.)
 
--Jeff Johnston
[Posted in FML issue 1527]