I'm just looking for personal opinions on what colors you would prefer for your substrate. Do you like neutral, more natural looking color like tans and such, or would you prefer something darker in the gray and black range? Anything else you would look for in a substrate to make you want to use it?
Safety is the #1 thing for me when it comes to substrate, followed by ease of cleaning. As for colors, something neutral and on the lighter side. A lighter colored substrate will make for a brighter enclosure, and subsequently a happy dragon. I'd be worried about a pure black substrate (or something really dark) getting too hot. I actually prefer substrates with some variation in color...makes things look more alive. My favorite is the color variation of slate tiles.
Awesome feedback, you have the exact same thoughts as I do for a new product we plan on introducing in the next few weeks. Maybe some others will chime in as well.
I just realized I posted in the DIY section, I meant to put this in the enclosure section... we need a moderator here to move us!
Yeah, I agree with Badcon. Easy cleaning is my top priority, and I like brighter colors too. I usually go with light tan, but I've been eyeing these tiles at Home Depot that are a really neat red-ish color. They remind me of the red clay stuff in deserts, and I think it would look awesome in Dud's enclosure!
I tried dark slate tile once, but I got sick of it pretty quickly.
Any clues on the new substrate idea? And will it come in a 4x2 size??
One question: Are they individual tiles (I'm guessing they are?) or a big mat? If they are tiles, do you just set them down or do they link together some how?
It's going to come pre-cut as a single piece or mat for all the popular tanks and custom cage sizes. An 18"x36" will run around $35 and a 24" x 48" will be about $50. It's heavy and weighs about a pound per square foot, but is only 1/8 inch thick and lays perfectly flat. If your cage is slightly smaller, it can be trimmed to fit perfectly in place. We could have done tiles, but we didn't want any seams to defeat the pourpose of it being sealed. What I like most is that it's not slippery and has a seemingly rough look, but it's fairly smooth. Even with baked on poo, I spray with an eco cleaner, let sit for a couple mins and it wipes clean. Hope to have it for the next show in Tampa and will do an introductory offer with discounted pricing when it comes out.
I'm lucky as I live in South Australia, I bought some Inland red sand for the bottom of the Viv, it's about 1.5 inches deep, I have built a wooden platform and Zazu has dug under neath and made a little cave where he sits and waits for crickerts to come in as it's dark.
I'm using multi colored slate atm, after switching from newb mistake of sand. home depot has 6x6 squares of em in four packs that equals a square foot. and pretty cheap too!
Yeah, I agree with Badcon. Easy cleaning is my top priority, and I like brighter colors too. I usually go with light tan, but I've been eyeing these tiles at Home Depot that are a really neat red-ish color. They remind me of the red clay stuff in deserts, and I think it would look awesome in Dud's enclosure!
I tried dark slate tile once, but I got sick of it pretty quickly.
Any clues on the new substrate idea? And will it come in a 4x2 size??
I agree with Jess, I have black tiles in Puff's viv and they get pretty hot so I have rice pad's and a towel down to cover it until I figure what I want to do. I would think anything that's not a solid color would be nice but I would like something that would show off your beardies coloring too. I'm getting ready to cut a hole in the viv on the side he doesn't use and try clay dirt and see if he likes it.
Can someone link this product also so I can see it? Also any plans to come north for shows? I'm in PA we have a decent show in reading FYI.
PS Jess I'd like to say stop following me but you seam to beat me to all these posts and say what I was going to so I guess technically I'm following you so nm LOL