My beardie is growing fast, he is roughly about 7 or 8 months old and on the large side of that scale. I currently have him on a reptile carpet but now that he is older I have been told to change it out. I know this is a very personal preference to every beardie handler but I was wondering if 100% fir bark by exo terra was safe for him? This is only to tie us over until we get our first home and my husband builds him a new home with proper flooring. Thank you in advance for any advice 
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substrate ?
lilqt
Jul 22, 2008 12:23 AM
Replies (4)
BDlvr
Jul 22, 2008 08:02 AM
The bark is a high impaction risk. If your looking for a loose substrate suggestion I'd recommend sand. Not the pet store kind but childrens sandbox sand. I get mine from Toys R Us. It's cleaner than the sand I've gotten from the do it yourself stores in the past.
Paradon
Jul 22, 2008 11:46 AM
I know someone beardie that died of impaction from sand, but I'm not sure what kind of sand he used. I think it was probably playground sand.
PHLdyPayne
Jul 23, 2008 01:11 PM
There is no need to change substrates if the carpet is working for you...though I still think the best substrates are paper towels, plastic table cloth or non stick shelf liners, or sealed ceramic, or slate tiles.
Children's playsand is often used as a substrate and is a safer alternative to the calcium based sands commonly sold in pet stores (not digestable, causes impaction much easier than play sand, highly expensive compared to play sand.) Crushed walnut is also a very bad substrate as well.
Play sand has less chance to cause impaction but it can still cause impaction.
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PHLdyPayne
shannon20019
Jul 23, 2008 08:09 AM
I used ceramic/slate tiles for the substrate and then switched to playsand when mine was about that old. If you are worried about the sand risk, I would say get a couple pieces of the slate for now and when you build your own cage you can always re-use them. We ended up using our "old" tiles for his basking spot. They are really not that expensive and clean up is really easy. hope this helps!
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1.0 bearded dragon "Ifrit"
0.1 leopard gecko "Lucy"
0.0.1 frog eyed gecko "Nikki"
1.0 crested gecko "Strider"
1.2 cats "Cali,Kami,Greg"
1.0 rabbit "Pippin"
1.0 cockatiel "Monty"
0.1 siberian husky "Sierra"
0.1 hamster "Lady"
lots of fish
