Sand in the bed area only

]We built Seven (6 months old) a fancy dragon cliff as you can see in the picture. He's still lolling around in his sleeping area with his blanket hanging over the dragon face because he's a fan of the tent effect right now.

He has a bowl, not shown in the image, which contains his dubia roaches when its feeding time.

My question is, since he loves to scratch and dig when he's sleepy, is it ok to put sand in the bed area (so he can burrow to his beardy heart's content) which is contained in the tent area, knowing I'll be replacing sand every week when I spill it everywhere cleaning up his Viv?

I don't think he'll try to eat the sand since he eats out of a bowl, and preferably, he likes to have the bowl tilted right in his face. He's a little spoiled .

Thanks all!

I would say this is fine because the reason people say sand is bad is because they can consume it while eating salad or crickets, so as long as least he isn't eating it, it should be fine. Hmmm I'm just trying to think of some other possible options that could serve as digging material just incase. I do know alot of people use cocoa peat or kritter krumble for gravid beardies to dig and nest in. But I do think the sand should be just fine in that area.

Yep, that should be fine. If he poops in it though, you should probably change out all of the sand, wipe it down, then replace with all new fresh sand.

Chanza":1ra5paqy said:

I would say this is fine because the reason people say sand is bad is because they can consume it while eating salad or crickets, so as long as least he isn't eating it, it should be fine. Hmmm I'm just trying to think of some other possible options that could serve as digging material just incase. I do know alot of people use cocoa peat or kritter krumble for gravid beardies to dig and nest in. But I do think the sand should be just fine in that area.

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The people on another Beardie MB tell everyone that visits or joins their board to use Bunnings PlaySand (for ALL beardies - from newly hatched to adults). You are probably well aware of their claims. (Made by a tiny group of very vocal self appointed experts , and breeders.) Well at least they don't tell everyone to use Calci-Sand / Vita-Sand.

Mostly because they have the mistaken impression that the bulk of the natural range of bearded dragons is sandy desert and have never taken the time to visit bearded dragon territory. These same people claim exposure of bearded dragons to frosty conditions overnight is fine (because they think it gets frosty at night in bearded dragon natural range (even in summer) wrong again.

Trouble with sand is several problems ;
1) beardies are tasty feely and will ingest some (it will very likely accumulate in their gut and intestines and lead to impactions)
2) insects do crawl and you can't guarantee no insects will windup amongst the sand (see 1)
3) beardies have messy table manners (see 1)
4) beardies will poo in their bed sometimes and if it's wet, where does the liquid go if you have a sandpit in their bedroom (under their hide) ? this makes the sand a perfect breeding ground for pathogenic bacteria/viruses/moulds.
5) many beardies are diggers / scratchers (love scratching at a corner or around things , the sand will fly and windup all over the place.

Might get away with playsand for adult beardies (maybe). But seems lots of beardies here get sink when on sand - this is unlikely to all be coincidential.

The use cocoa peat or kritter krumble for gravid beardies to dig and nest in (in icecream tubs and the like style layboxes) is an entirely different proposition and these are made so the stuff is more or less well contained and these are not permanent features in the vivs.