Sand for my cage?

[Arden2210]

Okay so right now my beardie is on a mat but I absolutely hate the mat. I had it at first because I know young small dragons shouldn't have sand because of digestive issues along with other things. My beardie is 11 inches now and j want to get sand. Is he big enough for sand? And I heard calcium sand found at like petco and stuff is bad for your dragon. I found some sand by Zilla called the desert blend and it says is ground walnut shells, is that okay? If not what do you recommend?

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....the walnut shell is probably the worst of all, and the calcium sand is also dangerous as you mentioned. A lot of people use tile [ cut at Lowe's or Home Depot ], others use non adhesive shelf liner, you can also use newspaper. Although children's playsand is used by some owners, it is controversial for a few reasons.....an impaction risk because you can't always see beardie eating/licking it, also sand can irritate the eyes and/or airway [ dusty] and part of the watery poo gets absorbed in it. I've had a tank with a mix of sand/ potting soil [ no added fertilizer] but you still get dust, just not as much,with a mix like that.

 

[ruben0311]

Currently have about 1/5 of tank floor with play sand, i washed it several times and no dust at all. Fred uses it when he sleeps at night otherwise doesn't go into it during the day. Its good to keep it on one end of the tank and in a way that it is lower than the surrounding floor (or divided by something like an inch or two high rail) so that the sand doesn't fly everywhere when they dig or scurry about. Keep the sand on the opposite side of the feeding location (if feeding within cage) and keep the heat levels nice and hot for digestion. I got lucky and Fred only poops on one or two different tiles so don't have to worry too much about yucky sand all the time but definitely will need to pull out and sanitize or swap out sand every month at least.. depending on their habits. its your call of course, every pet owner will treat and care for their pets in their own way.