Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've got a 2 year old adult male bearded dragon, named Dundee. He is currently on wheat bran for a substrate. However, I've found this to be undesirable after a year or so for the following reasons:

1. Too dusty. The BD himself is covered in dust, which clouds his colours. In the course of his digging, airborne particles float out of the cage and onto everything else nearby.

2. Expensive. I've had to order food-grade wheat bran over the internet. Which adds up after a while.

3. Unavailablity. The feed stores around here do not carry plain bran for horses. Their mixes always have dehydrated fruits and/or brown sugar or molasses.

Are there any other loose substrate recommended for adult BD's? He enjoys his digging, and putting newspaper, paper towel or repti-carpet down is a useless cause. I spend more time putting it back than it's worth.

I didn't know how well recommended sand/calci-sand was for adults. I know it's bad for hatchlings and juveniles, due to impaction complications.

I'm basically just looking for ideas to use as a substrate. Are there different grades of wheat bran? Some with larger and less dusty particles? Etc..

Thanks.

Playsand is probably a much better choice for your dragon than wheat bran. Also, it's a lot cheaper. It's good for digging, and you beardie won't have to inhale all that dust, which I doubt is very good for him. Also, it's much more like his natural habitat (the Australian outback) than wheat bran, or other substrates for that matter. Hope this helps!

Is it safe to use sand in adults?

Yes, sand is ok for adults, but I think it's better to use paper towels for smaller Beardies.
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-Lauren

~ Lauren's Lizards ~

groups.yahoo.com/group/LaurensLizards

I use washed children’s play sand that I sift through a screen door screen. It works great for me and is only $2.49 for a 50-pound bag. I tried the wheat bran, but I was unhappy with the amount of dust it had in it. Sand is safe for adult dragons.