New Bearded Dragon

[SpikesMom74]

loving your viv... looks good

 

[jjh1]

Sand is awful to use I have 3 beardies 2 adult and a 3 month old who is on paper towel and tile in her viv.
I must say I had sand in my viv for exactly 1 month and there was so much dust and even after my male pooped you scooped the poop out there was still bacteria.

I know that for a fact since a friend of mine is a microbiologist and took a sample for me that day when I found out even though I had removed the fecal matter bacteria was still present the sand was gone the next day and tile was layed down. Its way easier with tile when the beardie poops lysol wipe cleans the poop disinfects and all is right in the world again. Plus you wont get the stink eye from your beardie.

Use paper towel , newspaper repticarpet when they are babies or even slate tile, but stay away from sand it causes impaction and that is major $$$ and alot of discomfort for the animal which also can result in death.

Its the same in a human imagine if you were inpacted the pain discomfort, now transfer that to a baby beardie pain = ouch to them.

I worked as a nurse and for the BC-SPCA here in Canada so I have seen the effects of stuff like that not pretty

Hope all the suggestions help on substrate

UVB lights great light is the repti 10.0 tube not coil light should run the length of the viv.
Basking should be 105-110 for a baby beardie.
food should consist of live prey crickets, pheonix worms ( awesome) waxworms(treats fatting) butterworms,micro supers, dubia roaches (smalles ones) of course your veggies- collard greens endive bok choy, parsely arugala, shredded carrot,mustard greens, dandilion greens all need to be finely chopped.
prey and veg given everyday, give prey 2times a day as much as they can eat in a 15 min window.

also giving them a soak t hydrate helps as babies do shed alot like alomost every week. that means they are growing .

Hope this helps you

Welcome to the group good luck and congrats on your new baby post some pics when you get a chance!!

Joanne slave to beardies geckos dog hamster and fish oh also husband and kids lol

 

[herpgirl2510]

It amazes me how often the same question about sand is asked.

 

[Mrkngpen]

That's because it is what all the pet stores recommend/sell when someone gets a beardie. Terrible!

 

[blue11]

SURE! no problem! i love talking beardie!
Right now im using a type of flagstone you can get like, they said above, Home Depot, Garden Centers, all that. When her custom viv comes, im going to switch to a different kind of tile, but no far off from what im using now. Same basic principle kind ya know. Its just the coolest looking "substrate" once you really take a look at it in the viv, and its SO safe and SO easy to clean!

 

[DaddyGeek]

That's because it is what all the pet stores recommend/sell when someone gets a beardie. Terrible!

Also there is a lot of conflicting info out there on sand. There is a Bearded Dragon handbook I recently picked up (it was in the bargain bin lol) that said Cali-Sand is a great substrate because they eat it and it gives them much needed calcium. =/ Also at least in my case I thought about sand at first because of a lot of youtube videos of people who had it in their tanks and suggested it be used as well. Then I found this site and I am very thankful for that lol

 

[DragonMorphs]

the great sand debate love it never fails to amase me how pet stores keep telling people to put baby dragons on sand i use lino and it is so easy to clean it takes 2 min to give a quick wipe over you can do it 2-3 times a day without loosing half an hour each time you clean a viv and then every week give a full proper clean out, you have 0% chance of impactation and it can be kept clean and if you look round you can get lino that looks like stone tiles

 

[Phosphate]

Thanks everyone! I will be getting A new substrate very soon =]