@DelacoursLangur I have heard that before about reptiles and yet you commonly see sand used as a substrate in zoo exhibits, especially for desert or arid environment animals. I do assume they know what they are doing, so perhaps it depends on the type of sand or soil material?
Generally sand isn't a problem. In many cases food is presented in a dish, and snakes are fed outside of the exhibit typically. Unless the animal is actively eating sand, there typically is no issue with sand as a substrate. If a reptile is actually actively eating sand, chances are something is wrong.
Also if you think about it, a great many reptiles live on and in sand in the wild without tending to ingest it.
I believe I've also heard (on a YouTube video, but I don't remember which one exactly) that animals that live in sandy desert or arid environments are less likely to have problems with ingesting sand than animals from rocky or stony arid environments.
That said, these raising terrariums did have a very fine sandy material in them, that to me seemed similar to the fine sand I had in one of my previous fish tanks.
