Replacing tile flooring, need other substrate options

Hi everyone,

For a little over a year now I’ve had tile as my substrate. Tomorrow I am picking up a 75 gal terrarium to upgrade from my 40 gal, so I’ll need to redo the flooring. I was thinking of switching to another type of substrate other than tile. I’ve already tried reptile carpet and hated it. I like the tile but I clean his cage stuff in the laundry room sink downstairs and carrying all the tile up and down the stairs is getting old (not to mention they’re kind of heavy and I’ve chipped little pieces off over time). Also it’s a real pain when he happens to poop on a crack and so then some of the liquid seeps under the adjacent tiles. I’d like something that’s kind of all in one piece and that I can quickly spray and wipe.

Specifically, I’m wondering whether I should do non-adhesive shelf liner or a sheet of vinyl flooring cut to size. I mentioned the non adhesive shelf liner to my parents and they said it wouldn’t be a good idea clean up wise. They came up with the idea of vinyl flooring, which would be a quick clean up and I like that. The only potential problem is they want to silicone it to the bottom of the tank. Is that dangerous for beardies? Are there any safer options for sticking vinyl flooring down? And what are some pros and cons to non adhesive shelf liners vs vinyl flooring? Thanks!

Non adhesive shelf liner is great. Easy clean up, washable & replaceable. You could still do a few tiles on one side. I would not permanently put down any substrate.

I agree with Terry, being able to remove the substrate to do a thorough cleaning is important to make sure you can get out all of the fecal bacteria and stuff. Non-adhesive shelf liner is a godsend for substrates; and if you decide you don't like it, you've only spent $5 on it. (The Duck brand shelf-liner is sold at WalMart and on Amazon for $5.)