Bearded dragon madness!

[Xenologist]

Alright well one of my long kept and most cherished reptiles is my bearded dragon, I honestly love the girl, raised her since she was a small little hatchling. Now I usally followed traditional keeping requirments, some basic bedding, lights, feeding bowls, etc. Kept in a long 20 gallon. You know to make her happy and healthy, not I am and I am pretty sure she is (If lizards can think...haha) getting bored of her set-up so I am in the process of makeing a natural enclosure for her. Now I need some insight here, I know the desert set-up and the plants, I want to use pony tail palms. Do you know any other plants that may be useful? And another question, these long nails are quite irritateing on her, i have all these freash scratched on my arms... Now tewo ways to deal with this, is puitting some pebbles mixed in with the sand so it wears down her claws as she runs, or cut them by hand. I was to opt for the pebble idea, but how will that effect the plant growth? Any sugesstions?