What should i use as bedding?

[alenke]

I have my two female beardies in a 75 gallon tank with what i have now found out is the worst thing possible crushed walnut (it will be coming out ASAP when i get done with school today). For tonight they will be on paper towels but any sugestions for other substrates ... i will be going to pick them up tomorrow.

 

[Livey]

Tiles, shelf liner, paper and repti carpet....just anything that is not loose

 

[N3LRX]

I've got some repti-sand in my enclosure and I want it out. It's reddish colour and it has gotten into my beardies skin and he's reddish just like the sand. I read in a book that sand is better for them so I was wondering if plain white play sand would do? I don't know how to get the red out of his skin, hopefully it will come out when he sheds. I've bathed him once and he still looks like a cooked lobster. He's not too happy about getting bathed so I did not push the issue and force him to take the treatment. I just adopted him last week so I did not want to give him any reason to hate me or get him too stressed out.

Would the reptile liner available at pet stores be better? I'm a bit confused due to conflicting information about bedding. I'd prefer the liner as it is easier to take care of but I want what's best for him.

 

[df189]

I've got some repti-sand in my enclosure and I want it out. It's reddish colour and it has gotten into my beardies skin and he's reddish just like the sand. I read in a book that sand is better for them so I was wondering if plain white play sand would do? I don't know how to get the red out of his skin, hopefully it will come out when he sheds. I've bathed him once and he still looks like a cooked lobster. He's not too happy about getting bathed so I did not push the issue and force him to take the treatment. I just adopted him last week so I did not want to give him any reason to hate me or get him too stressed out.

Would the reptile liner available at pet stores be better? I'm a bit confused due to conflicting information about bedding. I'd prefer the liner as it is easier to take care of but I want what's best for him.

I recently switched my substrate from the red sand to tile. I've also tried repti carpet and crickets tend to get under it and it smells terrible. Tile is by far the best I have used. It is easy to clean, just a wet paper towel for spot cleaning, and a bleach water soak and rinse for full cleaning. Plus there is no impaction risk, it holds little bacteria compared to sand, and it absorbs heat fine. If you decide to use tile heres what I would do:

-Pick up some large flooring tiles (pretty much any type is fine just make sure it isn't too slick), or non adhesive shelf liner (I've never used this but many recommend it.
--Put down some sort of absorbent barrier on the viv bottom. (I used some extra repti carpet which works great.) This really helps with cleaning.
---Place the tiles over the liquid barrier, and furniture of the tile.

I'm not an expert so hopefully others can offer suggestions too.

 

[BlueDevil]

I'm currently in the process of upgrading my beardie's terrarium to tile. I went with Slate and just need my buddy to come over with his wet saw and cut a few of them to make them fit. I'm currently using newspaper as substrate. Just from reading horror stories here about beardies being impacted by sand or other loose substrates I feel it is not worth it and go with something safe.

 

[LennyTheLizardKing]

Tiles best for cleanup, just make sure your beardie can grip it. Im using half tile, half carpet in my largest viv and carpet in all my others. Water beads on the carpet and poops just wipe up nice and you can throw the carpet in the washing machine if needed...Make sure you get Scotch-guarded carpet if you go with this.

 

[alenke]

Thanks so much for all the advice! I actually found some tile left over in my house that we used for the kitchen it has quite a bit of grip on it so i will see how it works if necessary i will change to half and half. Again, thanks for the advice

Alyssa

 

[LennyTheLizardKing]

Ok renenber Australia is not made of tile so make sure you got some rocks/logs and stuff to climb...

 

[alenke]

Thanks I do realize that they need things to climb on. I was just concerned about the substrate.