# Exo Terra Sand Mat Substrate



## MissRuthless (Oct 11, 2019)

Anyone use these for Bearded Dragons ?

Any good or ?


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## Herpetology (Oct 11, 2019)

Rubbish, just use red desert sand


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## MissRuthless (Oct 11, 2019)

I did a post about sand but no one responded.

Is sand safe ? I hear so much about it, thats negative and to Not use it.
Others say its fine, it wont impact, use play sand from Bunnings etc /sigh


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## Herpetology (Oct 11, 2019)

Use sand that doesn’t get rock hard when wet// don’t use the gravel/rough stuff with pebbles and whatever else

Best is playsand from Bunnings or red sand


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## MissRuthless (Oct 11, 2019)

Is this just your opinion ?
Do you Actually use Sand in Your Bearded Dragon Enclosures ?


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## Herpetology (Oct 11, 2019)

I use butchers paper

But have seen/ know people on here use sand that doesn’t compact when wet and their beardies are fine.

Don’t be like the Americans who give them carpets, tv, hammock, lounge, pillows

 This vid explains it all
Grab a shovel and take some sand haha (save some money  )


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## MissRuthless (Oct 11, 2019)

Hammocks are actually fine and they love it.

So where is the source for that video ?


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## Herpetology (Oct 11, 2019)

https://www.facebook.com/BeardieVet/

It’s what they live on naturally


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## MissRuthless (Oct 11, 2019)

Stubborn ?

I am asking questions, that does not make someone stubborn by making inquiries to gather information.
Surely you would not just agree with what one person tells you without trying to obtain as much information as possible ?

If you look at a Bearded Dragons habit actually you will see that their environment is not soft sifted sand.
It's actually rock and sand, and bark but the sand has variety of rocks through it.

And nothing wrong with wanting to be 100% Sure Sand is Definitely safe to use as I do Not want to put my pet friends at risk by using sand.

I am looking into various substrates 

1) Excavator Clay
2) Sand

I use rocks and tiles currently, easy to clean, great additional heat source for them, even better to rub their bodies up against rocks when shedding etc

But now I want to make a theme for 2 new enclosures I have arriving soon, which will possibly be a mix of tiles, rocks, sand, clay
Thinking sand more on one half of the enclosure and clay on other side and various rocks between both sides, and elevated as I am making steps and features, hides etc

That's All.


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## Herpetology (Oct 11, 2019)

Sorry must just be the good ol misinterpretation over internet

You are right, nothing wrong with being 100%

1) you do NOT want excavator clay.. this is the substrate I was talking about that gets hard when wet.. I.e after digestion

This stuff gets rock hard and is used for primary burrowing species such as night skinks

2) if you watched the vid, you don’t see any rocks at all(give or take some pebbles), just trees and branches and sand that contains 2% clay

If you get a stacked shelf with different levels under the basking lamps and places to hide away, they don’t need to burrow


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## nuttylizardguy (Oct 12, 2019)

If it's sand labelled as Calci-sand or Vita-sand …. DON'T BUY IT or put in any lizard's enclosure as it's substrate , the stuff is lethal as it clumps and reacts in the gut to form concrete ==> it accumulates and WILL eventually cause a fatal impaction in the gastro-intestinal track that can only be cleared by very invasive major surgery , a horrible way for a reptile to die.
I'm not a huge fan of sand in a bearded dragon enclosure and it's a fact the very little of the natural range of bearded dragons is sandy (or bonefide deserts with dunes).


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