SAND GOOD OR NOT!!??

[zebraflavencs]

Ibanezboy, if you would read this whole thread, you will see the pros and cons of sand. Now, using water crystals is just adding to the risk of the bacteria building up just that much faster, as it provides an excellent breeding ground.

Every dragon will "taste" from time to time things in their enclosure. Some more often than others.
In the end, it is your decision after weighing all the facts.
Janie.

 

[scyllalk]

I have my guy's tank set with half of it as tile and half is sand. He usually messes on the tile, buy when he does mess in the sand, i use a small dust pan and scoop out all of the sand where he messed (so the liquid part doesn't get sifted out by the litter scoop). His food goes on the far side of the tiled half, so it's not near the sand.

 

[TheVirus]

Sand is only dangerous to a beardie when the keeper lacks the knowledge, experience, and understanding of how a dragon uses his environment to satisfy needs.

In a dry, warm environment, a dragon will have a hard time passing sand, bugs, or anything it puts in its mouth. If you have a screen top enclosure, or a heavily vented enclosure, that is dry, with 105* basking temp, then there is a good chance your dragon will become impacted by substrate, develop MBD unless the bulb is changed often, get over run by parasites if introduced, develop fatty liver if fed protein often, have organ failure due to long term dehydration (unless removed from the harsh environment and forced to soak in water), re-absorb her eggs unless she is removed from the environment, and not be able to properly brumate and will have to be waken up every so often to re-hydrate.

So theres a lot of cons from using a dry substrate (including sand). I currently have over 60 babies, less than 6 weeks old, all on a moist substrate. No impactions......ever.

Tim

 

[Aznrainbowdime]

Ok Ok.. .so I've used sand.. as I posted a few times on here... without realizing sand was terrible ! I had my MJ in sand for 3 weeks (shes only 6 in long). So I got freaked out after reading all the posts on here... and went to Petsmart. They were out of Repti Carpet ugh.

Anyway... I want tiles bad.. but I figured i'd wait till MJ gets a little bigger and get a new viv. Shes in a 10 gallon viv... and Im gonna get a 50 or so.

So long story short.. I didnt wanna put newspaper beacuse it looks ugly and tacky.. I decided to put towels down !
and its sooo easy to clean and I feel MUCH MUCH better feeding MJ her circkets without having to watch her to make sure shes not eating sand !!

Any thoughts on towels ?? I LOVE IT !!!!