tiles are find, as long as they are either sealed together or one solid piece that fits the entire bottom of the cage. The reason I suggest sealed together, or tightly fit together, is crickets can get inbetween them and thus make it hard for your dragon to get them. Also, toes or legs may get wedged into the spaces, causing injuries etc. Having the tiles sealed to the bottom of the cage with a silocon sealer gives the benefit of ensuring no waste seaps between the tiles and become a breeding ground for bacteria and odor. Also make sure the tiles are non porous for the same reason. (if ceramic having a glaze, either matte or semi-gloss is fine as this seals the ceramic). Make sure the tiles are not realy smoothe though, else your dragon will have trouble with traction and find it hard to move around (it is really easy to see this when dragons are on a hardwood or linoleum floor when out of the house and they decide to run...all that movement of feet to go forward, but so little speed actually achieved).
Crushed walnut has never been a good substrate for any reptile, too easily injested, very difficult if not impossible to digest and great cause of deaths due to impaction. Calci-sand is a little less dangerous but no where near as digestable as claimed by the manufactorers. Calci-sand tends to be very coarse grained, actually neutralizes acid in the stomach and clumps up, all bad combinations inside a dragon, leading to impaction. Not all dragons on calci-sand or crushed walnut will have impactions but the risk is much higher for both.
Washed children's playsand for the most part is much finer than either crushed walnut or calci-sand and tends to pass through the dragon better, when injested (avoid using washed playsand with young dragons, dragons should be at least 10" long head to tail before putting them on sand.) Sand however, still has a risk of causing impaction though not as high as calci-sand or crushed walnut.
No wood shavings or mulch should be used with bearded dragons. The only wood that should be in a bearded dragon's cage is his basking log. The shavings can be injested, harbor moisture which can cause problems for your dragon, etc. Same with carefresh and other rodent beddings, most are just too dusty and can be an irritation for the dragon. Deffinitely no cedar or pine, the oils can be toxic (not sure if they are to bearded dragons but cedar is certainly toxic to snakes and rodents. I am personally of the opinion cedar should be left to make our drawers smell nice or the flowerbed, not used in any of our pets environments.)
The safest substrates to use are the non particate kinds, such as tiles, linoleum, non stick shelf liner, paper towel, newsprint, plastic table cloth and reptile carpet. All have their pros and cons (not attractive, need constant spot cleaning, etc) but none will affect the health of your dragon (providing it is kept clean). Washed play sand (or the desert sand made by Exo Terra now available, which is crushed gravel, not calcium etc, would add that much desired color which has caused many people to risk the use of calci-sand to get)
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PHLdyPayne
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