Substrate

[Fraya]

So I have tried keeping my Beardie on just about everything. We have done reptile carpet, paper towel, and now he is on sand. I KNOW that sand is not good the issue is that whenever he was on the paper towel or carpet he gets pooh all over himself before I have a chance to get it out of the tank. I was wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem and if so were you able to rectify the situation? I then gave him a bath and even with soaking and light scrubbing (I didn't want to hurt him) it doesn't always come off. Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[renich]

yikes. sounds like you have quite a predicament. couple of questions -

1. how old is your beardie?
2. how big is your viv?
3. what kind of sand did you buy?

 

[Freeie]

I use tile normaly because its so easy to just wipe off with a baby wipe or a damp cloth. I only use the repticarpet intill i can get tile. Slate works the best because it also trims their nails.

 

[Fraya]

yikes. sounds like you have quite a predicament. couple of questions -

1. how old is your beardie?
2. how big is your viv?
3. what kind of sand did you buy?

1. I am not sure how old he is I would guess between 7 or 8 months we got him the begining of October and he is now 16.5"

2. He is is a 30 gal long 16x36x12"

3. He is on a calcium sand that doesn't clump as easily as some. we had him on a vitasand that clumped like nothing for a short while. We thought that it would be better becasue the particles were smaller...

I don't like him on the sand and I always check his movements as well as I can for any ovious sand, though I don't know if I would be able to see it, I am sure there is some in there. He has a movement at least once if not two times a day, either in his viv or the tub. I want him off of the sand so that there is one less thing for me to worry about, but I also don't want him covered in pooh all the time either. When he has been on the sand he has never gotten any on himself.

When they are on the tial do you have this sort of a problem? (automatic nail trimming sounds good to me! ) If you need any other information just ask and I'll help as well as I can.

 

[renich]

I didn't have any issues with tile. I have also used sand, and calci-sand at that. Just be very careful. We sifted the calci-sand twice and found large chunks of glass. If you want to stick with sand for now, try playground sand. It is designed for children, so it is safer.

You may also want to consider getting a larger viv. More room to move around, he may not swipe his tale in his poo. :lol:

 

[fresnowitte]

You may also want to consider getting a larger viv. More room to move around, he may not swipe his tale in his poo. :lol:

That was a very good suggestion as usually most (of course not all) will do their best to get away from the poop. Say if they poop on the cool end then they usually run to the basking end or the other way around. So if he had a bit more room he may not have to walk thru it. Also if you can't be there to clean up your beardies poop when they go then you could try to potty train your beardies. The bath usually works good but some will also need to run around for a bit before they are going to have to go.

Personally for myself and my beardies I don't like any particle substrates. We had our bout with parasites I don't want to do that again. I don't like particle substrates because to me it is like a "Litter Box."
But to each his/her own. :wink:
However like was mentioned if you really need to use sand I highly suggest the playsand over the calci-sand.
Over time the calcium sand will dry and harden your beardies skin making it rather hard for them to shed.
Besides the other issues with it which I'm not going to get into. :wink:

 

[diamc]

[Moved from General Discussion forum]

 

[Fraya]

Thanks for all of the great suggestions and for not ripping on me for having him on sand. I am going to try tial as soon as I can find the measuring tape, don't know where it has gone to. I am just tired of worring about him having trouble from the sand. I'll also look into getting him a bigger viv, though I don't know where I would put a bigger one, things are pretty cramped as it is now, 10 fish tanks, rep. rack, and two cats in a one bedroom condo...

 

[fresnowitte]

I am just tired of worring about him having trouble from the sand.

Always better safe than sorry. :wink:

though I don't know where I would put a bigger one, things are pretty cramped as it is now, 10 fish tanks, rep. rack, and two cats in a one bedroom condo...

Boy can I understand that! :lol:

 

[GoFast]

I absolutely agree with the bigger viv comment. dont be too concerned with height but instead think ground space. I think with more ground space to move you will see this problem go away. What is funny to me is that Elliott seems to hate poop. When he poops, he tends to run away from it and go into his little cave that i made him and looks so mortified of it. Once I clean it out he comes back out. it really is quite funny