substrate

[watts501]

i was woundering what substrate everyone used for there rankins and bearded dragons?i am using chip bark and i am not sure!thanks matt

[beanersmysav]

Childrens play sand

[watts501]

but cant they get problems with enpackion??

[drewlowe]

I use wheat bran.

Jamie

[timminsreptiles]

dry eco earth or bed a beast......sand could cause impaction especially when young......Lucas

[Bartman]

There is NO way, imo, sand could cause impaction to any sub-adult or adult just because these animals live on sand in the wild. I understand when people say not to keep leopard gecko's on sand because they live on rocky places, but these live in Australian deserts. Id even say babies are completely fine on sand, but you dont need to take my word for it.

For babies id keep them on paper towl, just to be safe, but sub adults and adults can easily be kept on sand, never heard of problems before.

[DragnDrop]

Originally posted by Bartman
I understand when people say not to keep leopard gecko's on sand because they live on rocky places, but these live in Australian deserts. Id even say babies are completely fine on sand, but you dont need to take my word for it.

Deserts are places that receive less than 10 inches of rain annually, sand isn't a prerequisite to being called a desert.

I really don't know the exact conditions of the ground where beardies live in the wild, but the thought that they must be able to survive nicely on sand because they live in the desert isn't quite logical. The Australian desert isn't all loose sand waiting to be blown about in the wind. There are vast areas of hard packed soil, gravel, rock cliffs and even grassland where the sand is not loose like it would be in an enclosure in captivity. If wild beardies really do live in loose sand, then I'd say they have evolved to live in it and it's safe to use. Judging by their feet, lack of webbing or fringes on their toes, I'd be more inclined to think they live in the hard packed ground areas of the desert, or spend very little time in the loose sand. Take a look at lizards that do live in blowing sand type areas, and you'll find they have specialized feet that act like snowshoes to keep them from sinking in the sand. I really don't think beardies prefer to live knee deep in the stuff fulltime.

There's even a desert area in Antarctica, the Antarctic Desert, so do I have to keep my pet penguin on frozen sand? ;)

I kept my beardie on slate and ceramic tiles with rocks, 'cliffs' and wood to climb on.

[bidden]

Hilde is right, from what I understand Beardie's live on very hard packed sand, hence there is less chance of impaction. Note how I said less... there is no loose substrate that is 100% safe for any reptile, playsand, ecobed, crushed walnuts, they all have a 'risk' of impaction. some just less than others.

I keep my guy on slate tile, and plan to for his entire life. it looks really cool, keeps his nails trimmed, is 100% safe, and is pretty easy to clean. the only downfall is the poo 'sticks' to the tile and you have to scrub them every week where he does a #2.

[Bartman]

I was going on what I saw on Croc Hunter :) Well hes usually dumb, but he found a bearded dragon and I remember he was on very loose sand, but you may be right that they dont live on very loose sand all the time.

Ive seen hatchlings go onto sand and live a full and healthy life. I know its only a risk but ive never heard of a beardy becoming impacted from sand. We have a risk of getting into a plane accident, but whats the chances of that..imo as much as a beardy getting impacted :D

[Capital Dragons]

There really is nothing wrong with using play sand in my opinion. Sure there is a chance that a baby dragon might get impacted from play sand but there is also a chance that I might get hit by lighting playing outside. All my babies go from the incubator right to rearing bins with play sand as the sub straight. I rarely have any problems with babies doing poorly but the few that don’t make it, how many died from impaction and not something else. One of the bigger problems that I find with play sand is eye irritation. Almost all of the bigger US breeders I know of use sand as a sub straight. They certainly wouldn’t use anything that would cause unnecessary loss of life.

Some like shelf liner, some like bran, others use newspaper. I would use what works for you. Read the books, they won’t steer you wrong… :D

[watts501]

ok thanks for the advice

[watts501]

is silver sand better than play sand ??cus i was thinking about using silver sand!

[beanersmysav]

I use play sand and I have no issues with it, other than it clumps on his feet when he gets out of the water and stomps through the sand, once he dries it falls of him though.

[watts501]

ok, does any one know if there are any bad or harmful cemicals in silver sand???mat

[paulsreef]

I use play sand from Home Depot. You could pour it through a strainer just incase there are a few pebbles. I have never had any problems with a Dragon becoming ill. I just use a container with 1 inch tall sides when I feed them veggies so sand doesn't get kicked all over the veggies.

paul.

[tequila]

ive kept my beardie on sifted play sand from day one and he is over a year now and i have had no problems. i suggest siffting the sand yourself when you get it home just to remove any little pebbles that were missed.

good luck

[Adrian]

Clean play sand. Never had any problems. Ever.