# SUBSTRATES for Bearded Dragons



## reptilife (Sep 30, 2010)

Hi All,
I have recently 'acquired' a lovely pair of bearded dragons and have them on the reptile sand which they came with.
I was wondering what others recommend as a substrate for these lizards?
I would like to use recycled-paper cat litter (like Breeders Choice). What do others think about this?


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## LizardLady (Sep 30, 2010)

Well, as we don't know the dragons' age, I'll tell you this...

Up to a year old, it is not recommended to use a particulate substrate - that means no sand, calci-sand, walnut shell, corncob litter, aquarium gravel, kitty litter etc... due to the possibility of impaction.

Paper towel, newspaper, butcher's paper, blank newsprint...

Hope this helps!

Best,
Carolyn


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## reptilife (Sep 30, 2010)

Thanks Carolyn.

They are 4-5 years old.


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## eamonn (Sep 30, 2010)

All I use for mine is artifical grass. Easy to clean and looks good!


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## giggle (Oct 1, 2010)

I use tiles, rocks and bark. 

Bark is for them to dig in... I am also considering replacing this with sand. Its in their 'bed' section, their hide. Its multipurpose ^_^ 
The tiles make a really good heat gradient on the floor and are easy to clean. I used indoor tiles from bunnings.. they are so cheap. 
The rocks I feel are essential as the beardies love to use them to scratch themselves and assist in removing skin. I also put rocks in their bath because again they love rubbing themselves on them.
My personal feeling is aside from having a safe convenient substrate, for the happiness of your beardie they also require somewhere to dig and some rough-ish rocks to rub themselves on. Bunnings has big quarts lumps  they are pretty, cheap and just the right texture. I place smooth river pebbles (large ones) and smaller quarts stones (all are about the size of a sub-adult beardies head) around a larger one. You would find they use both the big quarts piece and the little rocks. 
For the bark I use the fine grade pet bark available in the pet store  On the tiles I pick the poops up with pet wipes and wipe off any residue! Poop does stain quarts though so bleaching it once in a while might help. 

And thats my noob suggestions ^_^

Ari


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## Chicken (Oct 1, 2010)

yeah artificial grass is great i used to use it nothing wrong with it, or reptile carpet, or tiles they heat up nicely, newspaper, and the debated Sand. Ok so sad is debated to be used a a substrate so much because of 1 reason. It can cause impaction. Basically the dragon goes to eat a cricket, takes in a mouth full of sand and the sand cant pass through the intestines and it clogs them up leading to death, unless you clear the impaction which is hard. So people say this only happens to small dragons under 1 year old. Not true at all, dragons under 1 year are definitely more easily to get impacted but adults still can.So whyyy take the risk, some say uhhhh ooo ummm because i fink they live on sand in da wild so they live in sand here... not true at all, and some people just thinks it looks good and doesn't care abut the beardie. So go for something like fake grass. Easily the best option. Good luck.


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## Megzz (Oct 1, 2010)

I used the washed playground sand from Bunnings but as mentioned above, not everyone likes to use sand...


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## Chicken (Oct 1, 2010)

yeah if you use sand, washed play sand i'd reckon is the best, i hope i didn't offend my mates that use sand :|


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## sammy_sparkles (Oct 1, 2010)

i just started using red desert sand, its easy to spot clean. i have 2 large tiles that are raised (about 5cm) that i put water and food on so sand doesnt get in there. its working well so far. if your worried about impaction, you can always put a little veg oil in their food every now and again to help things through


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## 1issie (Oct 1, 2010)

our beardies cage already had sand in it has it was 2nd hand,i only have one 7 month old beardie so sand wasn't safe ,he didn't get impaction,then we got olive pips,they are great.
The sand i started out with was what sammy has,but if you choose that sand their feet tend to become red ,their tail tips do too,after a shed they just become red again.

When we do his cage again we are putting in a special brand of kitty litter we use,you paid alot for it,but when it gets wet it turns all sandy so its noy safe for really little ones if you spill water.


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## giggle (Oct 1, 2010)

IMO if you are worried about impaction but still want to use sand... feed them in a separate container.  Buy a plastic box, pet them in for feeding time and chuck in the insects  That way you dont end up with stray crickets in your enclosure either.
Then put a tile in their salads area. They tend to bash their salads on the ground as well which can gather sand.


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## Metalbeard (Oct 1, 2010)

I've been using sand for atleast 4 months my beardies are all over 30cm long and sometimes they get sand in the fruit and veg but never any problems. The breeder i brought them off said she uses sand in all over her enclousures. I personally think its a personal choice of the keeper.


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## giggle (Oct 1, 2010)

Ooo townsville... Im in Mackay... I need beardie keepers up here... anyone know of any? I feel cut off, would like to get more beardies


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## reptilife (Oct 1, 2010)

Thanks guys.
I have opted for the artificial turf with a sand-box in the corner for the F to lay in should the need arise.

Cheers for all your suggestions!


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## nagini-baby (Oct 1, 2010)

my adults are on sand. anything thats not adult is on fake turf or paper... just to be safe


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## buckby09 (Oct 1, 2010)

I use the bunnings play ground sand too, but this is my first reptile so I'm very keen to find out any information about this kind of stuff. Now I have some thinking to do, I didn't know about impaction. Speaking of substrate and enclosures, I'd love to hear what other people have in their beardie enclosures.....furniture etc. I have a big log that my girl is on all the time basking, I have created a little hideout with some fake greenery which she loves sleeping in. I see some of you have mentioned tiles....I like the sound of putting a tile under her veges and water to stop the sand from getting in and love the idea of feeding her crickets in a separate container/box to avoid swallowing sand. I have one of those soft zip-up flexariums that I put her in when she is outside in the sun, perfect for the crickets!!! Thank you!!


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## Chicken (Oct 2, 2010)

Sounds good Buckboy


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## monitordude (Oct 2, 2010)

what about when theyre in the wild central beadys live on sand.


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## SnapKitten (Nov 2, 2010)

Haha.. I love being able to search for past threads.. Reptilife, u asked the exact thing I was thinking about today with the breeders choice cat litter (recycled paper).. I know normal cat litter (Clay) is no good as a substrate. I've also been told that rabbit food pellets are good for beardie substrate as they are made from alfalfa which makes it digestable incase consumption of substrate occurs, not sure about this but, has anyone else ever heard or maybe even tried this before? I'm a fan of the fake turf, I have it in all my enclosure apart from one, that one has carpet.. The enclosure with the carpet is why I was thinking about the recycled newspaper pellets. I need to replace the carpet in this enclosure as it is past its used by date. I was going to just get new carpet or astro turf but was considering the paper pellets due to cage shape/size, both my bearides in this cage are adults.. I do like the idea of the recycled newspaper cat litter, if safe, it would be easy as to spot clean, u would just have to remove the soild area, n of corse fully change the rest when required..


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## cosmicwolf4 (Nov 2, 2010)

I have my beardies on vinyl self stick floor tiles for now, easy to clean, doesn't get wet and no chance of impaction. I also have heavy, stable rocks for climbing and going to put a bowl with sand in soon, as well as some fake turf when they are a bit bigger. 
I use the tiles under my snakes turf also because it's so easy to keep clean. It looks great too when the turf is out.


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## Defective (Nov 5, 2010)

eamonn said:


> All I use for mine is artifical grass. Easy to clean and looks good!



marine carpet is good as well and comes in a few different colours


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## woody101 (Nov 5, 2010)

mine are on sand and every time i clean there cage with new sand the eat it like there looking at food its really weird there not hungry they just love eat the fresh sand


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## branca (Nov 7, 2010)

i keep my adults on sand and my hatchies are due to hatch soon. what substrate is best for the hatchies? would sand be fine for them?


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## Wally (Nov 7, 2010)

Paper towel for hatchies, that is just a little moist.


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## branca (Nov 7, 2010)

thanks wally


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## EmDown (Nov 7, 2010)

I used paper until they were bigger than my hand and then started of a Cat little mix, kitty crumble, that is made from coconut husk.... looks cool (although a bit more jungle like then desert, but isn;t moist).. if they eat it is digestable and really keeps the smell down. And poop just clumps it up so easy to remove......


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## branca (Nov 8, 2010)

what happens if you do use desert sand? i have paper towel but just asking.


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## JAS101 (Nov 8, 2010)

branca said:


> what happens if you do use desert sand? i have paper towel but just asking.


 for hatchies , its a chance they will ingest it .
for my adults i use oz kitty litter , saw dust and shredded paper . for hatchies i use paper towel or just a bare floor .


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## The_Dreaded_Pets (Nov 8, 2010)

i use washed beach sand from bunnings however i was thinking of buying soe red dessert sand and mixing the 2 for a nice visual effect


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## book (Nov 8, 2010)

SnapKitten said:


> I was thinking about the recycled newspaper pellets. I need to replace the carpet in this enclosure as it is past its used by date. I was going to just get new carpet or astro turf but was considering the paper pellets due to cage shape/size, both my bearides in this cage are adults.. I do like the idea of the recycled newspaper cat litter, if safe, it would be easy as to spot clean, u would just have to remove the soild area, n of corse fully change the rest when required..


I bought one bag of the recycled paper small animal beding made by the same company that make Breeders Choice Cat Litter. I will never buy it again as the bag I got had a lot of multi coloured bits of plastic and staples all through it. Imagine if they ate that stuff!


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## reptilife (Nov 8, 2010)

book said:


> I bought one bag of the recycled paper small animal beding made by the same company that make Breeders Choice Cat Litter. I will never buy it again as the bag I got had a lot of multi coloured bits of plastic and staples all through it. Imagine if they ate that stuff!



I have NEVER found such a thing. But that's an awful concern!


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## snakehandler (Nov 9, 2010)

I have been using red desert sand not only for bearded dragons but also red barred dragons, frill necks and monitors, I have been doing so for around 10 years, not only adults but hatchlings too, with no impaction problem ever noted. One thing that people will always mention is impaction, so they will look at the stomach content and see sand and decide that this killed the animal, sand goes in one end and out the other, if sand is going to cause impaction then how do they survive in the wild, only eat when the insects are on rocks, make sure that you only each vegetables after rain, so the dirt is washed off???

Some of the issues with lizards and carpets, the claws will often catch and tear out, claws will not get warn down and will start to grow too long, curl over and cause problems. When you think of paper products, this is a problem if ingested, kitty litter is designed to absorb moisture and most expand when wet...imagine the complication when swallowed.

In my personal opinion there is nothing wrong with a natural substrate, yes they will ingest some of it and their bodies are designed to cope with it, imitate the habitat they are from where ever possible.


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## branca (Nov 9, 2010)

well done snake handler i agree with you. i was thinking that the other day that if they were hatched in the wild they would be on desert sand so why change it? so yeah i might go with the sand .


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## monitordude (Nov 9, 2010)

branca said:


> well done snake handler i agree with you. i was thinking that the other day that if they were hatched in the wild they would be on desert sand so why change it? so yeah i might go with the sand .


 
yeh i reacently got back from a herping trip in the simpson desert there was hatchy beardies everywhere, all on red desert sand on the plains and junes, they all looked fine and all the adults where the most spectacular beardies ive ever seen!!!!
(it was an awsome trip every herpers dream BTW)


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## branca (Nov 9, 2010)

nice ridgie any pics?


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## monitordude (Nov 9, 2010)

ill try put a thread together today


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