Questions about installing tile

I currently have two bearded dragons in seperate vivariums. One is over a year old and living on sand, the other is on carpet. I haven't had any issues with sand, but I want to change it up for him a little and get something more aesthetically pleasing for my other guy than green carpet.

So, I'm switching to tile. I'm planning on installing slate tile and sealing it in with silicone. I know many prefer to take the tile out, but when I clean them, I end up washing the glass and every inch, so I don't care about having to remove the tile.

I was wondering, when putting down the tiles, is there a material that I should put under it, as with tiling a floor? My worry is that if I move, the tile, though sealed to the sides, will shift and crack or break the glass.

The other side to it is that one of the vivariums has a heating pad attached to the bottom. I was thinking about using a shelf liner in the bottom and putting a thin layer of silicone to keep it in place, transfer heat from the pad to the tile (hoping the tile warms up a little at night as Rabbit likes a little warmth when he sleeps), and as a base layer for the tile.

If there's anyone with any better or different ideas, I'd appreciate hearing them. I am not on a strict budget, but saving a little money never hurt anyone.

No glue or grout required , just lay them loose butting against each other.

If you have the standard size tiles (wall or floor) you might not even have to cut any to size to make the tiles fit. Make sure you buy 20% more tiles than needed as spares.

This make it very easy lift out soiled tiles to take outside to give a blast with garden hose to clean muck off them.

My tiles are sitting ontop marine plywood , and are all secondhand wall tiles (from my bathroom renovation) all I did was remove the wall board that was attached to the back of them with an angle grinder (ground it off back to the underside of the tiles).

This is how I place my 7W heatpads into my tanks and vivs : again using secondhand wall tiles to form the "tile sandwich" : viewtopic.php?f=75&t=224976&p=1746469&hilit=safe+way+to+use+heatpads#p1746469

What color tile did you use? I'm thinking about black because it would look good with the other decorations, but I'm worried it'll get too got. If it does, I'll just swap his lamp for a slightly cooler one.

Baelrich":14oweiry said:

What color tile did you use? I'm thinking about black because it would look good with the other decorations, but I'm worried it'll get too got. If it does, I'll just swap his lamp for a slightly cooler one.

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Black will indeed get too hot.
A lighter tan or brown or even white will be better and he'll be able to see his feeder insects on the tiles too.

I used stick on vinyl tiles in Giml's current 40 gallon setup. They work well. No feeders can get underneath, and they are easy to clean with vinegar solution and a steamer. For his new viv (almost finished!) I have painted and sealed the plywood floor. Much of the floor surface will be covered with rock work inserts, but i plan to leave the little that is exposed as is.