Are there any safe loose substrates?

[Evergrowingfamily]

Hi,
I have a one year old who glass surfs and swipes her feet along the ceramic tile for at least a few hours a day. She's in a 18x18x36 and I will upgrade to a 2x2x4 eventually, but as for now I am trying to find ways to give her that ability to dig. Her enclosure looks beautiful that's for sure and its super easy to clean, I love that part. My concerns are the enrichment aspect and how she keeps glass surfing and digging, and her nails are almost non-existent stubs on her back legs. This is a very heated and polarized subject and I know that sand is a no-no. I have heard of others using eco-earth and repti-chips (not repti-bark). I also had a put a wet sand box in there for her to dig only and it just got tracked all over the tile. I have shredded fleece in her cave hide but she rarely uses it. She also either eats from a food dish or our hands, so she would not be hunting in the substrate. Any suggestions on a safer* loose substrate, as I know there are risks involved, but just trying to give her the best most enjoyable life...

 

[CookieBeast12]

Yes actually, there is one option that I use and have found is pretty good. I used mine on my 11 month old beardie and he loved digging and burying himself in the substrate

So around 50% topsoil- with no chemicals- or manure or anything like that and 50% playsand. I suggest it because it's really a lot of enrichment for them. And it keeps a naturalistic environment. just make sure that your beardie has a raised space/hide to get off of it if they need to.

I recommend it, but others may not- I was part of a reptile discord server and I had confided in them about loose substrate- and they told me that it depends on the beardie but most of them love it, and that it was better than the tile I was using.

So as long as your beardie is old enough to know not to eat the dirt- I suggest switching. My beardie was around 8 months when I switched him.