Slate or tile in viv?

[clownstrike]

Hi all,

We don't have a BD yet, but I'm planning to get one for my son in the fall. For now, we're just raising roaches and learning as much as we can. I have a question about slate/tile substrates.

Does anyone use real slate tile, as opposed to textured ceramic tile made to look like slate or stone? Slate seems kind of porous to me and I'm wondering if it would be sanitary enough to use. Is real slate tough to clean daily poop messes? Does anyone have experience with both slate and tile? I can see slate being great for traction and for filing nails, but I can see ceramic tile (with some texture) being a lot easier to clean. Not sure which way to go.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Tim

 

[Ruby2uesday]

I have slate tiles and from what I heard that most do (and now me) is spray the tiles w/ bleach, then rinse them really really well until you can't smell the bleach anymore. i remove the dirty tile and rinse every day, but bleach once a week.

 

[JimnCar70506]

they hold the heat well? or too well? if u have a 40breeder tank and im afraid to replace the carpet with tiles where in turn the light might heat them up to much and in turn burn the little girl from under neath? Want to change for easier cleaning as getting her poop out or the repticarpet i got right now is startting to get old fast...

 

[Ruby2uesday]

they hold the heat well? or too well? if u have a 40breeder tank and im afraid to replace the carpet with tiles where in turn the light might heat them up to much and in turn burn the little girl from under neath? Want to change for easier cleaning as getting her poop out or the repticarpet i got right now is startting to get old fast...

Nope, they're great. easy to clean and i don't think they get "to warm" at all. i have a 40gl breeder and my temps are always fine and i never even notice the tile being warm when i pick them up to clean. i've only ever used tile (in my short 1.5mo of owning my bd) but i would never use anything else! LOL

 

[Ethelia]

Hi there,
Ive used alot of substrates and my favourite by far is real slate tile. It is so easy to clean, natural, cheap and keeps their nails lovely and trim.
Ive never found a ceramic tile with quite the same texture as slate.

Im using slate for my youngster at the moment. Her viv is around 3x2x1.5.

In terms of cleaning in my oppinion they are the quickest and easiest substrate to clean. When Miso poops all I do is lift the affected tile out, wash it with hot soapy water and then place it in the oven on 250 for 10-15 minutes to kill all bacteria. Let it cool then pop it back in the viv.
You can either wash with a diluted bleach solution or bake them as I do. I am a worrier though so I hate using bleach around my dragons. For really tough stains I use a hot water and vinegar solution, but Ive only had to resort to that once.

Ive never had an issue with slate getting too warm even under her basking spot. They hold the heat nicely at night too which means I rarely have to put my ceramic heat emmitter on (every penny saved is a blessing ^_^)

All in all, I cant recommend them enough.
Holly

 

[Ruby2uesday]

Holly, looking at your tiles and looking at mine, maybe mine are "fake slate"??? mine are rough, but not that rough. Maybe they're smoothed out a bit??? They said they were slate... hmmmmm i like the look of yours though.

 

[Ethelia]

Mine were rough cut slate, I think you perhaps have polished slate?

 

[Ruby2uesday]

Mine were rough cut slate, I think you perhaps have polished slate?

oh ok. well they are still rougher then ceramic so when i need some new ones i'll go to rough cut. i miss measured anyway so i was wanting to fix them sometimes. lol will now give me a bigger excuse to upgrade! lol

 

[harharley97]

i use carpet also but at cool end of tank i have slate tile placed over carpet easy to remove and clean

 

[buzz86]

I have just replaced the repticarpet in my bd's vivs with tiles, but the tiles do not fit! Argh! Sandboy's viv is this one and Beanhead's is this one

I want to get slate tiles, as long as I can find a size that fits. What size tiles does everyone use, or do you use a tile cutter to get them to fit? I bought textured ceramic tiles for Sandboy and I don't think she liked them, she came out in stress marks, so I put kitchen towel over them and she has gone back to her normal yellow self!

 

[Ethelia]

Mine dont fit perfectly. I have about an inch gap between the slate and the wall which ive put a little carpet runner along.
I bought smaller ones because I couldnt afford a tile cutter for a one off job.
Its my understanding that you can rent tile cutters quite easily in the US from places like Lowes?

Also dont worry about your dragons being grumpy with the tile. Every dragon is resistant to change at first. When i tiled Miso's viv she spent the first day sat on her basking rock refusing to touch them. Within a couple of days she was fine and Ive not had her throw a strop since.

Holly

 

[buzz86]

I have about an inch gap too, thanks for that idea I think I will cut a strip of reptile carpet to fill it up. I'm in the UK too, tile cutters are way too expensive!

Oh good I didn't want her to be on kitchen towel forever. I will just have to tell the little madam that it's tough! Baby beardies seem to get stressed at the slightest thing :roll:

 

[Ethelia]

Aye, darn Yanks have everything easy

Hehe you're right they can be such fusspots.
This is Miso after I changed her tile. Pushed as far into her basking rock as possible glaring at everything.

 

[buzz86]

Oh my look at that face! NOT happy lol. Still v cute though. Here's Sandboy looking pleased with herself for getting her paper towel back, blissfully unaware that I'm going to replace it with slate tee hee.

I know her viv needs a little padding out decor-wise!

 

[globil]

Seem to be a lot of folks with tile here..We just switched over to tile and like many people just have it set in the bottom for easy removal and cleaning.

How long do you let your tile dry before putting it back in your viv? We washed all of it and thought we dried it well, placed newspaper down on the glass and then the tiles. Sig pooped today and I went to remove the soiled tiles only to find out that all of the newspaper underneath was soaked......so I removed everything from the viv, cleaned what needed cleaned, dried it all and then used the blow dryer...thought it was dry...checked a few hours later only to find wet paper underneath again. Thoughts? I'm using ceramic tile.