sirenique
Hatchling Member
When I bought my beardie, I overbought at every recommendation of the very, ahem, special associates of Petsmart. Within an hour of owning Bones, I'd already read through 128 pages of dragon care. I thought there was no way I could screw things up. The one thing that I've come to adhere to is that loose sand is not an acceptable substrate, as many forum members will tell you, and hopefully those who firmly believe in this will be happy that they have converted another owner to their side. I realize how lucky I am to have not dealt with impaction issues, because for the first four months of owning my beardie, his substrate was loose calcium sand and only that. After seeing so many owners and beardies dealing with the trauma of impaction, I upgraded my viv to accommodate my 16" dragon and the mannerisms that I've noticed over the last four months. Just because he hasn't had impaction so far doesn't mean it can't happen, right? So what's the harm in making some positive viv changes! =D
An overall shot of the new layout, the warm side on the left and the cool side on the right.
The hide under the stacked driftwood of the left side. I've noticed when we cuddled on my bed, he loved to dig under pillows and make pillow forts. I plan on placing some cozy blankets in his hide so he can recreate this at night
Plus since the hide is on the warm side of his cage, it will be warm as he drifts off to sleep, which he loves.
Half of the viv is now covered in red slate, with sand packed tightly in between. With the new layout, all of his most frequently trafficked areas, including 90% of his viv, is now covered with some sort of substrate that is not loose sand.
The other part of his viv is covered with sandstone steps that climb up part of his driftwood. I noticed in his old viv, he would climb round and round on his old fake tree perch, and he was just getting to big for it. Now he has more natural climbing surface that is wide enough to fit him so he's not performing a balancing act just to bask. He's big into climbing on things when he's out of his viv, so I'm trying to give him more things to do while in his viv. I'm totally nerdily into decorating negative space in the viv with fancy stones/rocks
Sandstone steps go all the way into the cool part of his cage, where the base of his fake tree perch is. I figured he should have a perch on both hot and cold sides of the viv to suit his mood. Like I said, he loveesssss to climb and jump!! Again, overdecorated with fancy rocks. There is a small area of loose sand where the sandstone ends. I'm not concerned about it, and wanted to keep a very small patch of loose sand because believe it or not, he plays in his sand sometimes like a kid in a sandbox. He likes to hide the stones in the sand and dig them out later. It's so bizarre, it's almost like he's playing delayed hide-and-go-seek for the stones with me. I also figured having the small patch in front of his food dish would make it very easy to clean up the mess he makes when eating his greens :roll:
The cool side of his cage houses his food and water, as I figured they'd naturally fare the best at cooler temps. I'm also somehow hoping that he'll decide to poop on this side of the cage so it's easier for me to clean up. I would rather wash his water and food dish every single day than scrape poo off of driftwood. Bones says hello =D
Bones doing what he does best -- exploring!
Again, thanks to the members who helped me change my mind on the substrate matter. My only other concern is his big piece of driftwood (the piece he basks on the most) seems to have a few natural stray flyaway fibers. I saw Bones trying to munch on them earlier and so I tried to trim all the frayed fibers down so that he wouldn't bite at them. Anything else you can recommend? =D
An overall shot of the new layout, the warm side on the left and the cool side on the right.
The hide under the stacked driftwood of the left side. I've noticed when we cuddled on my bed, he loved to dig under pillows and make pillow forts. I plan on placing some cozy blankets in his hide so he can recreate this at night
Plus since the hide is on the warm side of his cage, it will be warm as he drifts off to sleep, which he loves.
Half of the viv is now covered in red slate, with sand packed tightly in between. With the new layout, all of his most frequently trafficked areas, including 90% of his viv, is now covered with some sort of substrate that is not loose sand.
The other part of his viv is covered with sandstone steps that climb up part of his driftwood. I noticed in his old viv, he would climb round and round on his old fake tree perch, and he was just getting to big for it. Now he has more natural climbing surface that is wide enough to fit him so he's not performing a balancing act just to bask. He's big into climbing on things when he's out of his viv, so I'm trying to give him more things to do while in his viv. I'm totally nerdily into decorating negative space in the viv with fancy stones/rocks
Sandstone steps go all the way into the cool part of his cage, where the base of his fake tree perch is. I figured he should have a perch on both hot and cold sides of the viv to suit his mood. Like I said, he loveesssss to climb and jump!! Again, overdecorated with fancy rocks. There is a small area of loose sand where the sandstone ends. I'm not concerned about it, and wanted to keep a very small patch of loose sand because believe it or not, he plays in his sand sometimes like a kid in a sandbox. He likes to hide the stones in the sand and dig them out later. It's so bizarre, it's almost like he's playing delayed hide-and-go-seek for the stones with me. I also figured having the small patch in front of his food dish would make it very easy to clean up the mess he makes when eating his greens :roll:
The cool side of his cage houses his food and water, as I figured they'd naturally fare the best at cooler temps. I'm also somehow hoping that he'll decide to poop on this side of the cage so it's easier for me to clean up. I would rather wash his water and food dish every single day than scrape poo off of driftwood. Bones says hello =D
Bones doing what he does best -- exploring!
Again, thanks to the members who helped me change my mind on the substrate matter. My only other concern is his big piece of driftwood (the piece he basks on the most) seems to have a few natural stray flyaway fibers. I saw Bones trying to munch on them earlier and so I tried to trim all the frayed fibers down so that he wouldn't bite at them. Anything else you can recommend? =D
