MY GF needs help with her Bearded Dragon

[FAIL]

I just bought a 120 gallon tank for my girlfriends bearded dragon who is over a year old and very large in size . My question is about sand. She is determined to use sand, and I have been searching forums and everywhere all i find is a debate that calci sand is bad and play sand is ok? Is it ok to use playsand? or is it ok to use calci sand? If it's ok to use playsand, that's what we are doing because it is 98012730912873091283701298370129837102 times cheaper . please let me know.

 

[gary1621]

I wouldnt advise a substrate at all... its too messy to clean, for one thing. Have you had the Beardie long? If you have you'd have noticed they scratch a lot at the corners of their enclosure, you'll have none in the corners but loads in the water bowl, the food dishes and all over there veggies. They could end up eatting it.

What we've done is sealed some laminant flooring tiles to the bottom of the encloser. Its cleaner and will save you a lot of time and money during clean up!

 

[laurie]

I use cheap basically no pile green carpet from home depot. I seal it to the tank with blue painter tape and put in a clean carpet once a week while I clean the other one. That is with daily basic clean up. No lost greens or crickets & a Happy dragon.

 

[GoFast]

The reason why people say play sand is ok but not calcisand is because the play sand doesn't tend to clump like the calcisand. The problem with that argument is that impaction is only ONE of the risks with sand.

Another major, and often overlooked, risk with sand or any particle substrate is the fact that it is a nirvana for bacteria to grow and flourish.

I personally use slate tiles in my vivs which I can take out to clean very easily. Plus, they help file the dragons nails down a bit.

 

[Julirs]

I use newspaper-easy to clean and they don't eat it. I do also know some very reputable breeders that use playsand-but sift it to remove any larger chunks.

 

[lucky]

if you can get your hands on large size pieces of cardboard you can cut to fit and just throw them away after use. most stores give away boxes making it a free substrate.

but in my snake tanks i use the home depot outdoor carpet/turf stuff.

cut to fit and just toss em. i bought a roll for 20 bucks about 5 months ago. and once a week changes in two 20 longs. i still have some left.

and for my beardie when i had him i used play sand. washed, kiln dried play sand. orange and brown bag at home depot. you can use crushed walnut shell as well. its natural, looks good. and most pet stores have it as bird cage pan litter stuff.

 

[serenitystarlite]

I use ceramic floor tiles in my leopard geckos' tank and would do the same thing if I had a beardie. They look really nice, like sandstone. Very easy to clean and did I mention they look really nice? Plus you only have to buy them once

I used sand in the past and I hated it, it was too hard to clean and would get so messy. I had a much smaller tank (20gal), I couldn't imagine trying to change out sand in a big tank like yours.

 

[kinyonga]

I used a rather coarse sand for years in my beardie's cage with no problems. The beardie lived to be 11.

Regarding sand holding bacteria...from what I've read, sand does not support bacterial growth...its the organic material (feces, etc.) that is allowing the bacteria to grow. Some farmers use sand as bedding for cows because there is a lower incidence of mastitis, etc. because the sand does not support bacteria growth.

 

[FAIL]

so you're saying play sand washed and kiln dried would be ok? ideal even? the lady at the local pet store said she's raised 7 beardies and would never put them in sand. lol. she is just so determined she wants sand in it...could someone post pics of the floor tile ?

 

[serenitystarlite]

I'm at work now and don't have any pics of my leo tank, but I will post a pic for you in a few hours when I get home

 

[jojackson]

you can use crushed walnut shell as well.

I dont recommend it any more than broken glass!

 

[GoFast]

Exactly! Crushed walnut, aside from broken glass, is about the worst thing you could use as a substrate.

you can use crushed walnut shell as well.

I dont recommend it any more than broken glass!

 

[Rhino]

I use newspaper-easy to clean and they don't eat it. QUOTE]

+ 1 here, I use newspaper

 

[thealissa]

When we had beardies, we used newspaper as well.

 

[ijmccollum]

When Pete was a babe, it was paper towels changed daily. It gradually went to calcisand as he became subadult/adult. He has been on that for two years now at least. Poos are sifted daily and substrate swapped out quarterly. I have always wondered about bacterial growth over impaction since I can smell the "dragon" as time progresses but notice he is quite astute in claiming moving targets. My greatest concern is the dust/particulates from sifting that he comes in contact with. I could mist before I sift but I don't think that would help. I am kind of stymied as to the best method. So I stand amongst the mystified.

 

[Chameleonguy5756]

I have heard of plenty of bearded dragons that do well in sand and some that do not. She just has to decide if its worth the "risk."

 

[ijmccollum]

Agreed, substrates are always risky.

 

[FAIL]

oh, she has decided-it's me convincing her not to do it lol. she is determined she wants him to run in the sand like a wild desert thing. i told her since she's gonna go ahead with washed and kilned play sand, to make sure she feeds him romaine lettuce, collard greens, other vegies to help him pass any ingested sand. let's hope he does just fine.

 

[GoFast]

oh, she has decided-it's me convincing her not to do it lol. she is determined she wants him to run in the sand like a wild desert thing. i told her since she's gonna go ahead with washed and kilned play sand, to make sure she feeds him romaine lettuce, collard greens, other vegies to help him pass any ingested sand. let's hope he does just fine.

You are right on with the collard greens but avoid the lettuces. Here is a very helpful nutritional chart for bearded dragons.

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

 

[serenitystarlite]

Here's a picture of my leo tank with the ceramic tiles: