substrate?

[SUPERBALLS]

whats the best substrate for beardies, right now im using sand and it works fine but you cant see the dragons colors at al because of the sand, does anyone have suggestions for somthing better?

[Beardedragon]

Get him off of the sand, it should not be dyeing him. Use ceramic tile or paper towels.

[redflea13]

The dust from the sand can change the color of your dragon. It can also cause eye iritation. Sand also can cause impactation. I recomend slate tile as the ceramic can be slippery for a dragon to crawl on.

[Beardedragon]

Ceremic tile is fine. Slate is hard as heck to clean off when your beardie poops.

[shadi11]

I have used many different substrates I find personally that papertowel, indoor outdoor carpet or shelf liner is best. Ceramic for mine is slippery. slate is good as well. but you have to scrub.. and sand is also bad for the above reasons. I find paper towel easiest it absorbs whatever and I toss when I clean. I have been using it for 3 years now on my 6 dragons.

[Crazy4Herps]

If he is a baby or juvie, having him on sand is very risky; it often causes impaction of the intestines, which is more often than not fatal. I have heard that adults deal with sand better.

From what I have read (I don't actually own a Beardie yet, but I've been doing studious research for months in preparation), I am going with tiles. If one is pooped upon, you can take it out, wash it, and put it back. Easy to clean, and it also wears down their nails so you don't have to clip them.

[Don]

For babies, use paper towels. They are easy to change and do the job. Once mine got bigger, I looked at ceramic and slate but found something I like better - outdoor carpet. I bought enough of it to cover the bottom of her enclosure several times over. I cut it to fit, then used a lighter to melt the edges and get rid of the loose threads. For spot cleaning, I use a paper towel to pick up any mess. It looks really good and once it gets dirty, I swap it out with a clean one. The dirty one is thrown on the deck and hosed down for cleaning.

[medusasmorphs]

I agree with the paper toweler's unless you want something more visually pleasing. It's so easy to just fold up toss and replace. It's safe and easy for them to get around on, not to mention you know when it needs to be replaced. Although tiles are nice because food items occasionally do get underneath the paper towel if there's any gap which can get annoying.