Substrate for the messiest beardie ever.

[spkdrgn]

I don't have a water dish in my enclosure because my beardie never drinks form it and they get most of their water from greens, crickets,and baths, have you ever squished a cricket and and seen all the moisture that comes from it? You don't have to sift all the sand just the poo spot. It's pretty easy to get all the poo and if there were some left it would get dried out which once again bacteria can not grow in a dry climate. I guarantee you there is more bacteria on a kitchen sponge people use to wash their dishes with than in a dried up poo. I'm just saying don't to tell people not to use sand because it's some type of horrible thing that will hurt and kill your beardie (not that you did but others in different post have had that type of mentality). What works for you is fine and I have no problem with that but it seems to me like people on here are always attacking sand. What if your beardie is blind in his third eye and bakes himself to death under the heat lamp, or he gets his toes stuck under a tile when your not home and his toes get ripped off, you shouldn't worry about all the what if's in life. I'm not trying to attack anyone it's just the way i feel.

 

[amime]

wow... this got kind of heated while I was gone.

Anyway I have put paper towel down and she still managed to make quite a big mess. it's just on the paper towel and walls rather than tile and walls. It is easier to replace to towels than to try to scrub down the tiles everyday though. I'm sure it absorbed some of the moisture but she sure managed to make some mess before it dried out fully. -yuk-

I mentioned that I wasn't worried about impaction with my beardie if I used sand because I only feed her cockroaches and I feed them by hand, one at a time. She is never hunting in her viv. I put her salad on her basking area above the floor so that isn't near the substrate either. I was hoping the sand could "clump" the poop so I could remove it more thoroughly. right now it's hard to even find all the places she's managed to smear the poop.

She really needs a litter box. -sigh-

 

[Buggsy]

spkdrgn while yes most peoples kitchen cloths are very dirty, and the keyboard you are using has more bacteria and fungi than your toilet seat, poop has bacteria! I am a medical microbiologist, and can tell you there are hundreds of different types of bacteria, all of which could cause a disease or two.

I generally dont advise a totally sand substrate as its a pain, you have to totally replace it once a week to avoid parasites. When a beardy poop, there is also alot of water expelled, which contains bacteria. You cannot get rid of all the bacteria every time he poops, so you have to totally replace. I have a sand pit for my adult female, which she dosnt use much atm as its winter, but it still needs replacing, which takes an age to do. The impaction issue is a side note, when talking about washed kids sand. other brands are a very high impaction risk.

Its not about the what ifs, its about reducing the chance something bad will happen. If using sand as the only substrate, sooner or later you will deal with parasites, or impaction. Both are serious and require vet attention and costly medications. Why take the chance when you can just as easily avoid the issue completely?

oh and my female did rip a toe nail out running on floor boards, so it does happen

 

[AK3]

My beardie is pretty messy too, she will poop and then drag her tail through it. i have her on paper towel now, and that works best for me. the repti carpet kinda grossed me out because you have to take it out and wash it. i go through a role of paper towels every 2 weeks. i just use a knock off brand. when she poops the paper towel absorb all the liquid so she doesnt have as much to lay in, which means less to clean for me.

 

[spkdrgn]

I don't think you need to replace all the sand every week that would just be a pain. Maybe for smaller tanks that wouldn't be a problem but my tank is 35"x64" and I use 3 20# bags of sand the cost would be crazy and the parasites probably don't travel that far that fast anyway. I change the sand every 6-12 months for 3 years and my dragon has never been sick or parasitic. I personally don't think paper towels would look that nice and there is a possibility that a beardie could eat some if he were to bite it when chasing food around. I don't know if that could cause impaction or not but it wouldn't feel good going down the throat.

Lets forget everything off topic now 8)

Back to the point the sand does a pretty good job of covering up the poo making it easier to scoop up. For sure better than tile or paper towels. Think of it as rolling a ball of cookie dough in sugar to make a snicker doodle cookie, once the dough is covered it doesn't stick to your fingers anymore.

If some of this doesn't make since thats because I just got done driving for 10 hours and im tired so sorry.

 

[beardieluv]

Spike, although it is a pain it's what is needed. It doesn't matter how far or how fast the parasite travels, if your dragon walks through it any time after that, dried up or not, there is still a possibility of harboring bacteria and making parasite levels worse. Not changing the sand for a year is disgusting. You will never EVER scoop out 100% of the poop/pee and letting it sit there for that long is just asking for trouble. How do you know your beardie has never been sick? You ever taken it to a vet? Have you gotten a fecal done? Paper towels are not the most attractive, true, but they are so easy to clean. How can you sit there worrying about a beardie eating the towel ( which is unlikely) vs feeding it on sand? every time your dragon licks or eats a bug in the tank when there is sand it picks up some of the grains, over time this can build up causing an impaction which can be DEADLY. I'm sure it's fairly easy to digest a little pit of a paper towel vs some sand. Sand doesn't feel good going down the throat, either. Wanna know how your beardie feels? Try sprinkling some sand on every single thing you eat from now on. Tile and paper towels are the two best things to have, sand is NOT better. And if it does such a good job of picking up the poo, how do you know you are getting all of it? Exactly.

Rant over. Anyways, amime, there really isn't much you can do. You could try to get your beardie to poop in the bath. Is there a certain time it goes poop? Try giving a bath around that time, otherwise hopefully your beardie will just stop eventually haha.

 

[spkdrgn]

Animals are not people I don't think you would like the taste or crunch of worms, cock roaches, crickets with a topping of calcium in your mouth, try that for breaktfast tomorrow. This is NOT an attack or being mean just stating facts. I would not want to eat a large mammal whole like a snake with all that fur and horns ,dirt in the fur and they seem to love it, i can name lots of animals like that . Oh I have one ...A bearded dragon. How can you prove that that is what is needed? Have you done large scientific studies proving this? if not then that is your opinion, which you have a right to. Dogs lick their but where crap comes out and their not dieing and people let their dogs lick their face and mouth and their not dieing. I never see any left over poo when I clean out the cage so maybe you were doing it wrong.I'm not saying don't use paper towels or tile i'm just saying there are pro's and con's of each so pick what you want. The sand that he licks or eats would pass before it builds up. Why would he lick the sand to taste his surroundings if it was so horrible to him going down? Ok it probably has been sick but so have you and you didn't go to the doctor to get medicine. I can tell I get all the poo out by looking at the sand and not seeing brown poo and white pee it is very easy to do if you use white sand and not brown play sand which by the way I think would look cheap also. You get what you pay for. Their natural flooring is the best thing for them to have and last time I checked they don't live in a tile or paper towel factory. That is like if people only lived to be 50 in the wild but aliens took us and stuck us in a metal cage in order to make us live to be 150 years old but in the wild we lived on a nice sandy beach where WE liked it much better. I would rather live a nice short life than a long torturous one.

I am going to stop replying to this now so don't ask me questions, this has gone too far.

maybe that was an attack, sorry ,nothing personal

 

[spkdrgn]

Why did they bleep out cockroaches? Their are different meanings of cock like cockeyed :lol: oh i see it was by its self thats stupid. :lol: don't even start.

 

[Buggsy]

spkdrgn, i am a medical microbiologist and i can tell you yes, in that warm moist environment bacteria and parasites will move that far! Its thier goal in life to multiply and spread as far away as possible. Its a fact, and also dogs get worm and diarrhea etc from licking bums!

Back to the OP, i think your best bet is to stick with tiles (and paper if its working) but bath everyday, you can 'train' her to poop in the bath, afterall their not 'supposed' to like to poop where they sleep etc!