That's probably what I am going to start with once I get his fecal done (I'm hoping to do that and a check up tomorrow). He's been through a lot already in his life and I know that I want him to be in a very safe environment that's still comfy (which is why I want to go to home depot tomorrow to get stuff for the hides and maybe to work on making a basking stack).



If there's one thing I've learned from my relatively short time in bearded dragon husbandry...hardly any one agrees on substrates. Right now the thing for them over on the forum is shelf liner (the rubbery, non-slip shelf liner). It works great for a lot of people, but I don't personally like it. I haven't tried it, but I've done the carpet thing, and papertowels, and I prefer particulate substrates. I have the time to spend with my animals individually though, and that's why sand works for me. I have time to take Sydney (the bearded dragon) out of his tank and feed him crickets in his feeding tub, and since he hardly ever licks the sand, I'm not worried about impaction right now. With some people on the forum, it's impossible to do this for all the dragons, so they have to feed in the tank, which would lead to problems with impaction. Plus it takes time to clean sand, much more time than shelf liner.



So apply this to uros. It is a little backwards though, because for bearded dragons, sand is a more stimulating substrate than some rubbery shelfliner, and for uros being able to dig burrows is more stimulating than being on birdseed or sand. You have to weigh your options. I don't even have a tank right now that would work for the deep soil thing, but hypothetically, it wouldn't really work out anyways. I may try a thin layer of soil in the future...sort of a setup like I said in the first post.



But not everyone is going to agree, and both sides have their reasons...unless one side is suggesting a really obsurd substrate be used (like lizard litter or repti bark).



-ryan

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