Getting ready to put sand in with bearded dragon...

[herpgirl2510]

I have two new babies and i do not have substrate I have read in places about using top soil. I would not do this until they were much older does this have the same impaction risk.

 

[DaddyGeek]

Any loose particulate substrate comes with the risk of impaction. It does not matter the age, whether you feed them in it or if they just live in it. It is up to the individual in the end. As much advice as can be given to you some people will just do what they please and that is their choice. One of the first pieces of advice I got here was no sand and I have seen it given probably a thousand times in a thousand different threads. Personally, I do not use sand because I see no reason to risk my dragons health over something that is so easy to avoid. I like to go with the idea of better safe than sorry. There was a thread just recently from someone who lost a dragon due to impaction and that dragon was 3 years old. It was heart wrenching for them. Ultimately it is up to the individual owner to decide but when my dragons pass on I definitely don't want to have it be to impaction or to some other illness I could have prevented just by adjusting something so small as substrate. I am not trying to start another sand vs tile argument that a lot of us have seen on here a hundred times over now. Just giving my two cents on why I don't use sand.

 

[techdave]

Another point of why not to use. When the beardie poos, they also urinate at the same time (the white part). Often times there could be some "liquid" that comes out too. Using a pooper scooper to get the poo out only cleans the poo, not the liquidy stuff. So it stays there in the viv, being a harbinger of bacteria that could get your beardie sick. Personally, Tiamat will never see sand or any other loose substrate. Just like Nafarian said

Personally, I do not use sand because I see no reason to risk my dragons health over something that is so easy to avoid.

I don't want to be the reason that Tiamat dies.

 

[coastergirl946]

My boyfriend and I lost a 3 1/2 year old beardie to sand impaction. Curt was in a great deal of pain and stress every time he pooed.. blackbearding, straining, and going limp afterward with his eyes closed because pooping hurt him so much. It messed up his intestines to the point where he could no longer poop without babyfood prunes and warm baths.. there was still sand in his feces three months after we removed the sand from his vivarium.. (not to mention his viv STUNK when we were using sand as a substrate.. when the sand was dumped out we found dead rotten crickets, and sandy poo that was baked onto the bottom of the viv)
then one day he prolapsed.. then on the way to the vet he choked to death on the food he vomited up that he could no longer digest.
It still hurts to look at the top of the dresser and not see him there on his basking stick or scratching at the glass.

Here is Curt.. such a cutie, but sand is what ended his life. I miss you every day, and wish we hadn't found out when it was too late.

 

[GeeUK]

Thats really a shame.

Granted, loose substrates look good and feel natural but I wouldnt rise it at all.

The the poster above, are you getting another Beardie?

 

[Jayson745]

Did the vet open it up and find a bunch of sand in its stomach, or are you assuming thats the cause of death. I hear people say that its horrible to use sand because they read it somewhere, or a friend of a cousins neighbor knew a guy who had a beardie die. I have never in my life actually seen a beardie get impacted with sand, and if he did I'm guessing it was because he was missing bugs and catching a tongue full of sand instead.

I'm sorry your beardie died, and I'm not trying to give people bad advice, I'm just stating my opinion on sand. I dont mind if that opinion goes against the majority. Thats the joys of the internet. People can get all angles of a discussion from different people with different opinions. At the end of the day, its up to the individual to decide what he concludes from it all.

as far as urine and pooper scoopers go, its just like a litter box. The wet stuff soaks the sand, and you end up with a easily removable chunck, as long as you keep up on doing it so it doesn't dry out and get trampled. At that point I would assume it would break apart and mix into it all, which would not be good. It doesn't get nasty or smell either unless you let it get like that. I've had beardies on sand for like 2 years straight, and when I threw it out it still looked/smelled like it did when I bought it.

As far as regular soil goes, I've thought about trying it many many times. If you give it a go, let me know how it works for you. It seems like they'd be able to get the best traction, and you could actually mound it up in places to make it look natural, where sand would quickly level out.

 

[herpgirl2510]

I just got back from lowe's I got some natural slate and they cut it to fit my floor print. Now my beardies have the kitchen floor I have always anted.

 

[Jess]

I have never in my life actually seen a beardie get impacted with sand, and if he did I'm guessing it was because he was missing bugs and catching a tongue full of sand instead.

I observe at a vet clinic that specializes in reptiles and exotics. Someone brought in a HUGE beardie (He has to be at least good 24"... He is the biggest I have ever seen in person.) named Leo who was 5 years old, and he was impacted by sand so badly that he had to have surgery to have any chance of surviving it. His owner couldn't afford the surgery, so the staff at the vet clinic adopted him, and did the surgery. I wasn't observing when this happened, but I was talking to the techs about him, and they said that they were worried his little intestines were going to rupture during the surgery because of all the sand he has ingested. He is now a clinic pet there, and he is just the sweetest little guy.

 

[Bwalter]

My daughter had a nice female beardie that she gave to her friend, about 1-2 years old. The friend thought it would be cool to have the green sand, less then 2 weeks and she came home to find the beardie had a mouth full of sand. Next day she died, only reason I can think of is she ate a lot of sand and who knows, maybe she did that for the 2 weeks she had her. I loved that little girl and I will never have my little one on sand.

 

[Jayson745]

that is bad. Yesterday, I did find some instances online where a few people were reporting having beardies actually eat sand on purpose. I had not heard of this before. Apparently they do it if they are low on calcium. And apparently calcium sand makes them more likely to do it, but it also was mentioned to have happened with play sand. I myself have never seen this happen, and it seems to be a rare occurrence. I've always used proper lighting/calcium supplements so hopefully that makes this all the more unlikely. Still, its something that is good to know, so people can watch for it.