New substrate for my beardie?

[Anestatic]

I have been wanting to change my beardie's substrate from carpet. I was thinking of using slate type tile. Or would sand be better? I would appreciate the help on which is most ideal for dragons.

 

[mece]

go with the slate tile sand is dangerous

 

[snazzyglasses]

I have non-adhesive shelf liner in my big guy's viv and I love it! It's not as pretty as tile, but it's inexpensive, and easy to clean since it's all one big piece. (Make sure it's non-adhesive, and doesn't have any of those "antimicrobial" chemicals in it though. Adhesives and weird chemicals tend to give off harmful fumes when they're heated up-- like in a warm beardie viv.)
You could even use paper towels or newspaper, for disposable cleanup
Sand/crushed walnut/anything a beardie could potentially ingest can be bad news though, since beardies explore by licking things. Younger dragons are especially curious, plus younger dragons are more susceptible to impaction. Which is why as a general rule people usually recommend ditching particle substrates altogether.
I know of some adults, including our 3 year old female, who are perfectly fine on washed playsand though (I think it's called playsand? Got it at Home Depot, it's for kids' sandboxes and such). But we have to replace the sand and clean the viv regularly because particle substrates will hoard bacteria and other unpleasantness. Lady really seems to love tromping around in her sand though, and we keep a really close eye on her (especially during meal times), so the sand stays for now. I think it partly depends on the beardie too.

 

[mece]

i was thinking about playsand does it come in colors ?

 

[Anestatic]

Thanks for the info on the substrate. I have considered sand and have used it for my Uromastyx . I have read that the slate helps with their nails and files them down. I just bought slate tile yesterday now need to bake it and cut it to fit.
Referring to colored playsand, I don't believe it is good for the lizard because of the dyes used in the coloring of the sand. I'm not positive but I think that's accurate. The beardie we rescued was in colored sand and it dyed his skin orange took about a month out of it to shed off. Wash kids playsand is the safest for your dragon.