Tiles vs. Repti-Carpet

[neworleans]

I am stuck between either using repti-carpet or just tiling my viv.

It is a 50 gal breeder (36x18x18), so i could just buy some 36x18 carpet, or get two 18" tiles.

What do you think i should do?

 

[AndyT]

I prefer tiles. They clean easy, hold heat well, look great, and trim their nails at the same time! You may want to get two 16x16 tiles instead. The 18x18s will probably not fit inside. I had that problem and had to go back to the store and replace them. Or they will fit and not come back out. I recommend the tiles, but repticarpet is good as well.

Andy

 

[RolandKyramere]

Tiles, for all of the above quoted reasons. That and I've heard that Repti-carpet stinks after a while.

 

[wes]

I bought two 18x18" tiles. I scored them with a glass cutter and nibbled about half an inch or so off both and another quarter inch or so off one to make them fit. It was pretty simple to do, but surprisingly messy.

 

[RolandKyramere]

Yeah, the slate tiles tend to disintergrate upon being dropped... found this out the hard way.

 

[patricia20]

For me, it is better if I use carpet than tiles. Because my child always lay on our floor and tiles are cold while carpet can give you warm if you lay on it. And besides, carpet is more affordable.

 

[foto69man]

If you use the search box and type in tile, you will find a plethora of opinions on the pros and cons of using tile.

Personally I use tile

 

[nair88]

i have used both, and so far, i much prefer the tile - and so does falkor. it's easier to clean, and he seems to enjoy walking around on the tile much more than he did on the carpet. also, it's much cheaper in the long run. more than likely, the tile may never need to be replaced as long it is kept clean. whereas, the carpet will need to be replaced every few washings since it seems to deteriorate a bit after each washing.

 

[underrwaterrx]

I just switched from reptile carpet to tiles. I really recommend it because it is A LOT easier to clean. Reptile carpet held odors and was a pain to keep clean. To tile the inside of my enclosure only cost $10! It also keeps their nails trimmed.

 

[bkelley]

What type of tile are you guys using? Like an unfinished ceramic?

 

[nair88]

i bought natural slate tile, but ceramic would be fine as well. just make sure it's not smooth and slippery.

 

[bkelley]

We have a bunch of slate left over from when we had our pool put in. I was thinking about using it but it's not very uniform, would be pretty hard to get it to fit nicely. Bane loves it to bask on, though.

 

[nair88]

i think you would be fine without the uniformity - just be creative. check out falkor's thread - viewtopic.php?f=49&t=131181&start=0 - i just posted some pictures of the slate that i put in. even though the tiles themselves were pretty uniform, i couldn't get them to fit quite right, so several of them are overlapping and stuff. it ended up turning out really cool.

 

[sapper11delta]

I just upgraded my Petrie to a larger tank and went with slate tile. A friend of mine raised snakes and other reptiles for many years and he says that the slate tile can get hot enough to burn my dragons belly. Does anyone know if this is true or not? Right now i have a piece of carpet under his basking around because i do not want him to get hurt.

 

[nair88]

I just upgraded my Petrie to a larger tank and went with slate tile. A friend of mine raised snakes and other reptiles for many years and he says that the slate tile can get hot enough to burn my dragons belly. Does anyone know if this is true or not? Right now i have a piece of carpet under his basking around because i do not want him to get hurt.

i was a little concerned about this too, so i have been taking temps of the tiles that fall right under the basking light. the temperatures there are all lower than the basking spot itself. shouldn't be anything to worry about