Zoo med Excavator Clay Burrowing Substrate

[eel88]

Im wondering if this is safe to use for my beardie. I feed by hand or when im in a hurry in a different dish so i don't have to dig out the extra bugs later and i feed greens in a different dish so she won't be eating off the substrate of course she will lick from time to time. I really want to give her something to dig in i think it is a pretty cool idea. I won't use it though if it will damage her health. What do you think? Theres the link below.


http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/...ing-substrate/

[daniel1983]

If you are looking at the substrate as something to dig in, you might be better off with something else. This substrate gets very hard after it gets wet and sits under a heat lamp....kinda like a baked brick.

As far as health issues with ingestion....I assume the risks are no different than with other substrates such as sand. However since this stuff stays together well, I would guess there is a little less ingestion. It might work well to put a 1" thick layer on the bottom of the enclosure wet it and let it get hard to give a more natural look....but that wouldn't last long after all the magnificent bearded dragon poop odors soak in It is all really a guess though....the material has not been sold long enough for there to be tons is reported issues with it like Calcisand and the other manufactured 'sand' substrates. I would search around to see if anyone has used clay as a substrate for beardeds before....not just the Zoomed brand. I know the soil from Beardeds natural habitat consists of a sort of clay/loam mix, so I would think people have used something similar in the past.

I am trying a diluted mix using the Zoomed Excavator, some playsand, and vermiculite for a Storr's monitor that I keep by itself....just for kicks to see how it works.

[eel88]

Ok i decided i'm going to use tile but instead of doing it the ol' fashioned way im going to break up my tiles with a hammer and almost mosaic them to the cage floor. What do you think?