substrate?

I have been keeping and breeding dragons for over 13 years. I have only used loose substrate with the exception of hatchlings(on paper towels). If you use alfalpha or critter country it can be injested without any problems. They usually just spit it out but either way never a problem and it spot cleans very well because it is so absorbent. You need to keep an eye on it and clean and replace as needed like you should with any substrate.

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

I have been keeping and breeding dragons for over 13 years. I have only used loose substrate with the exception of hatchlings(on paper towels). If you use alfalpha or critter country it can be injested without any problems. They usually just spit it out but either way never a problem and it spot cleans very well because it is so absorbent. You need to keep an eye on it and clean and replace as needed like you should with any substrate.

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Yeah, some are alot safer than others but when I had four beardies i just thought it was too much trouble to use particle S. I used tile and cleaning never could have been easier, and finding uneaten crickets was super easy. Just the other day I saw a baby beardie with some of its substrate in its eye, it was swollen by then and I felt soo bad for it.

I'm currently using crushed walnut shell. I know many people dislike it, but i only use it with Dragons over 10". I'm going to swicth to filtered play sand, soon, because it's cheaper and i'm moving into the boonies where the only thing around is a home depot.
Anyway, i haven't have dragons long, but i adopted two disabled dragons. One has no back legs and is missing the tip of her tail. And i should be picking up a new one today that is just missing a few toes. They had an outbreak of coccidia at the pet store and they adopted them out to me!
Off topic, real quick. Anyonw know where i can get some medication for coccidia without spending another fortune at the vet? I just want to know in case they have another outbreak in the future.

First thing...change out the crushed walnut shells with newspaper. I know of too many beardies that have died from impaction from ingesting that substrate. Newspaper is cheap and easy to cut to fit, even in tubs.
When I had one beardy, I had him in a 40 gallon breeder tank with natural slate tiles. Of course I had the UV light, CHE, and basking areas. Oh and a custom made temperature controller I made from spare parts at work, maintained the basking area at +/_ 1 degree of setpoint. :D After I figured out the tiles were hard to keep clean, I switched to newspaper. Then I adopted a mate for him, I had to build a front opening enclosure that was about 5'x2'x2'. That much surface area made me a believer in newspaper and changing out the newspaper every week. Who knew 2 beardies could make such a mess. :puke2:

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Originally Posted by KeithTN

First thing...change out the crushed walnut shells with newspaper. I know of too many beardies that have died from impaction from ingesting that substrate. Newspaper is cheap and easy to cut to fit, even in tubs.
When I had one beardy, I had him in a 40 gallon breeder tank with natural slate tiles. Of course I had the UV light, CHE, and basking areas. Oh and a custom made temperature controller I made from spare parts at work, maintained the basking area at +/_ 1 degree of setpoint. :D After I figured out the tiles were hard to keep clean, I switched to newspaper. Then I adopted a mate for him, I had to build a front opening enclosure that was about 5'x2'x2'. That much surface area made me a believer in newspaper and changing out the newspaper every week. Who knew 2 beardies could make such a mess. :puke2:

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The tiles were a pain to clean?? Really? We're builing a custom enclosure for our beardie 8X4X4 and I planned on using either slate or ceramic tiles...may have to change my plans :weirdface

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Originally Posted by KeithTN

First thing...change out the crushed walnut shells with newspaper. I know of too many beardies that have died from impaction from ingesting that substrate. Newspaper is cheap and easy to cut to fit, even in tubs.
When I had one beardy, I had him in a 40 gallon breeder tank with natural slate tiles. Of course I had the UV light, CHE, and basking areas. Oh and a custom made temperature controller I made from spare parts at work, maintained the basking area at +/_ 1 degree of setpoint. :D After I figured out the tiles were hard to keep clean, I switched to newspaper. Then I adopted a mate for him, I had to build a front opening enclosure that was about 5'x2'x2'. That much surface area made me a believer in newspaper and changing out the newspaper every week. Who knew 2 beardies could make such a mess. :puke2:

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Oh i will be, that's why i only have them on it if it's over 10", anything under cannot pass it through their system at all. I haven't had a problem with it yet in nearly 15 years, but then again, i've only had a few dragons. Anyway, soon i'm switching to filtered play sand. So much cheaper just very heavy. I have to switch because i'm moving into the middle of the woods and the only store for miles is a giant home depot and 24 hr walmart. Other than that it's only bear, and they don't like when i take their bedding.

Particle substrates are a pain in the Butt!!! I will say that having tried everything... Tile IS the way to go! Poop wipes right off with a wet cloth... And they can be easily removed and sanitized, I do this maybe once a month.

With particle substrate it does not matter how often you clean, or how much of the dookie you think you got out...you will never get it all as it seeps through to the bottom, and you inevtiably end up with a friggin smelly stinking mess... Then you have to empty everything and dispose of it when You want to REALLY get it clean. Using ceramic tile has really saved me a lot of time and headache when it comes to maintaing my Dragons enclosures.

Not to mention there is no way a piece of tile is going to impact a lizard.;)

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Originally Posted by lenastorms

The tiles were a pain to clean?? Really? We're builing a custom enclosure for our beardie 8X4X4 and I planned on using either slate or ceramic tiles...may have to change my plans :weirdface

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Maybe because it was slate it was diffucult to clean? We use ceramic tile and have no problems. Whenever our beardie goes to the bathroom we just wipe it up with a papertowel. In my opinion ceramic is the easiest to clean, and looks the nicest.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1.../installed.jpg

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Originally Posted by uTiRambo

Good Substrate: non-adhesive shelf liner, tile, paper towels, repti-carpet

Bad Substrate: any loose substrate (can cause impactions and harbors bacteria)

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

X100

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Agreed!!!

I use newspaper or paper towels, which ever I have on hand. Both make for easy cleanup :rolleyes:

I've heard they can lose toes/toenails when using carpet