Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is it ok to use sand in your terrarium, if you take your bearded dragon out and put it in a separate cage, with nothing in it to fee him? I dont think it would eat the sand if there was no food on it. Or are there other ways of impactation?

The only other way your dragons would become impacted from sand is if they decide to "taste" their new surroundings way too many times. Their tongue aids in their sense of smell(I forget exactly what the organ in a reptiles mouth is called that they use for smell) so it is normal for them to lick new things. I have kept mine on sand before and they never got impacted even with eating crickets off the sand. The only downsides to sand are that the liquids that come out with the poop cannot be taken out of the cage and instead soak into the sand and could harbor bacteria, etc. Another thing is that if you use an undertank heater, it can overheat with all of the insulation that results from using sand.

I just ended up buying cocunut husk. It looks pretty good, in one more week, I will see how the dragons like it.

LoL I just bought 100 pounds of sand for 6 bucks.