Sand as Substrate Convince me other wise

what i do is i have slate as my substrate. but i have a little stone bowl filled with sand in the corner of the cage because she loves to dig. she's not in it all the time so it doesnt get in her scales or her eyes nearly as much. i have seen dragons kept on just sand where their entire underside is festering with sand. she doesnt eat in it so she isn't swallowing sand. and she has never pooped in it so sanitation isnt a problem. if you REALLY want sand for your dragon, this is a better option than having all sand.

leatherbd":2rj7flq6 said:

Alright you guys all have very good points about the sand, but i now have done some thinking and you have not convinced me to switch YET BUT listen how about putting some slate over the sand would that be any better?

SORRY ABOUT THE DOUBLE POSTS ON THIS MY COPUTER IS VERY GLITCHY

Click to expand...

Why would you put slate on sand? If your going to put slate why not just put slate? What good comes from sand? Its not natural to him, its unsanitary and it poses health rosk.

Alright you guys are all very convinceing so i am not for sure going to do this but so far the best idea for me is to lay slate down remove the sand..... BUT PLZ don't leave it at THAT Give me more ideas i am liking all the original ideas out there and would would like to hear some more SO KEEP THEM COMEING Thanks a lot girls and guys.

My boyfriend has a 3 year old beardie named Curt that never had problems with sand until recently (he was on a calcium sand substrate). Curt got impacted THREE TIMES in the last two months. The second impaction was so painful for him that he literally collapsed in pain with his eyes shut (there is a thread on here in Health).
Every time he tried to pass these impactions (the first thing that came out was sand when he FINALLY pooped in a warm bath with belly massage), he was black bearding, and trembling in pain with his butt swollen. It was not easy for me to type that and remember how much he went through. I am shocked that he survived. MANY people on here have lost beardies due to sand impaction. Impaction can and will kill your dragon.

Sand can get in their eyes, under their eyelids, and cause infection and even blindness. There is a user on here with a photo to prove what sand can do to a beardie's eye.

Sand is also extremely unsanitary. It soaks up the juices from their poo and urates. If your beardie has parasites, the sand will help those parasites to grow. Do you really want your dragon to get a mouthful of any of that? I think not.

I do not care how "pretty" sand looks. It can harm or even kill your dragon in a lot of ways, and loose sand is not their natural environment. After everything Curt had to suffer through with sand, I absolutely refuse to believe that any type of loose substrate is acceptable.

Please dump the sand from your enclosure and use paper towels until you can get tile or repti-carpet.

Very well said, thanks for sharing the experience that you're boyfriend's beardie had, I know it was hard to put it in print.

OK everyone has very conviceing points and i do worry about impaction so i will take out all the sand. NOW i need some habitat ideas and pictures thank you for the imput Send your cool habitat ideas thank you all.

YES I DO REALIZE how silly i was being about all this it just took a group of people to convince me i guess so i will switch ASAP> \

THANKS AGAIN ALL ON BEARDEDDRAGON>ORG

For the record, I switched to slate in part to keep my beardies' nails trimmed down. I know a colleague with a dragon, and his dragon's nails curl. I wanted to make sure that didn't happen to my dragons because it looks uncomfortable. I doubt you will change your mind on sand, and I hope all goes well for your little one. The fact of the matter is that any substrate will pose a risk. However, it seems like a slate/tile substrate is the safest because it has the fewest risk factors. I still use sand beds in my dragon's enclosures. Very small beds; roughly a quarter of the tank or less. I am an extremely thorough cleaner though! Today was cleaning day, in fact. New sand and a hot water-bleach scrubbing for everyone! :laughing6:

I will be switching to reptile carpet shortly,

what about moss as a substrate? its what my gecko got

i have tiles in mine, they look nice- ive still got wood chip down the side as im waiting for someone to fit them properly for me- i wasted 3 tiles trying to do it myself without proper tools :? . Here's a pic (its not the best of set ups but Terri seems to like and i think the tiles are a nice natural colour):



(the little green bundle is Terri asleep in her blanket)

I am really beginning to like the the tile and slate ideas everyone keep the ideas coming though i am really enjoying seeing all of them. I have a few ideas for mine right now

PLz keep the ideas flowin

thanks for the help everyone bearded dragon.org is by far the best beardie care site i have posted on keep the good work up

Although I am aware of the risk of sand and I have only recently owned Dragons, then I have to say that when I introduced sand into the enclosure the change in habits was dramatic, they started digging and felt alot more comfortable with the surroundings, they hunt more and seem to be more lively.

I ensure that they poop daily and they do not seem to eat the sand in anyway as they are quite accurate hunters for any crickets that escape the box (before they get munched on....lol).

As bearded dragons do not actually pee and I clean up the poop daily or as soon as I see it then the cage does not smell.

I use fine desert sand which can be seived easily and does not stay clumped when it gets wet.

I know others object to sand, but I think its a personal preference and also depends on the animals themselves to the way they are raised, if they know sand then they will be use to it.