Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I,m a new owner to beardies and loving them already after only a few days, I've had a few little feeding troubles probably due to new surroundings, they seem to be coming roud now.
Anyway, what i was loking for is advice on oven dry clay, that stuff kids play with then you bake in the oven. Does anyone know if theres anything harmfull to dragons in it? I was wanting to use it to form a substrate and some furnishings. If suitable it would need sealed i think, or is that part of the drying process?
I don't really know a lot about this or the process involved, any advise would be greatly appreciated, hours on google now lol
Mark

I wouldn't use it as a substrate.. but I don't see any issue with forming hills, caves, ledges, etc out of it, baking then sealing it with either a clear coat, or painting it with acrylic then putting on a clear finish.

Most made for children's use stuff are non toxic.

Allow the paint/finish to dry completely and fully cure before putting it into the dragon's cage. Follow the direction on the bottle, most state the between coat dry time, and the final dry time or cure time. If not, at least 24 hours for most water based or acrylic style sealers, paints, varnishes, or about 7 days for other kinds. Never hurts to wait longer...but it can hurt if you don't wait long enough to get rid of harmful fumes.
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PHLdyPayne

>>I wouldn't use it as a substrate.. but I don't see any issue with forming hills, caves, ledges, etc out of it, baking then sealing it with either a clear coat, or painting it with acrylic then putting on a clear finish.
>>
>>Most made for children's use stuff are non toxic.
>>
>>Allow the paint/finish to dry completely and fully cure before putting it into the dragon's cage. Follow the direction on the bottle, most state the between coat dry time, and the final dry time or cure time. If not, at least 24 hours for most water based or acrylic style sealers, paints, varnishes, or about 7 days for other kinds. Never hurts to wait longer...but it can hurt if you don't wait long enough to get rid of harmful fumes.
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>>PHLdyPayne

Hi, thanks , i have found some that you oven bake at 350, so i think i will try a few little caves and rocks first.
Any reason why not as a substrate?
Mark
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2 Royal Python, 2 Bearded Dragons

for one thing.. hard to bake clay inside of a cage....but also if its hard as a rock after baking, you are better off with just slate or ceramic tiles, as they will fit together alot easier.

unbaked, it is a trap for bacteria and probably produce tons of dust..and if any gets eaten, huge impaction risk. Same reasons I wouldn't recommend that 'Excuvator' substrate thats now available, it is basically terra cotta clay in powder form you have to mix with water...then mold it to form the substrate caves etc...but in that state its highly porous..might as well have sponges. Soil would be much saver as it won't dry into a rock hard and dusty surface
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PHLdyPayne

i wouldn't put it in there unbaked, I was thinking more of moulding it inside the cage then baking it and refitting. This is probably only possible with more open top cages, unless done in pieces when tiles probably would be easier, plus other things to think about like shrinkage.
Thanks
Mark
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2 Royal Python, 2 Bearded Dragons

to me, it still will be far more trouble than its worth. Forming caves and basking/cave combos would make more sense, than trying to fit it into the bottom of a cage.

Also I think alot of the children's style clay shrinks a great deal which would make it hard to fit...you will have to test that with what you have to see roughly how much it shrinks. (best way would be to just make a slab maybe quarter inch thick and inch or two wide and 3-4 inches long... and bake itk then measure it again to see how much it shrunk by..and figure out the percentage...then making sure any caves etc, are big enough so if they shrink they wont suddenly become too small
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PHLdyPayne

Thanks for the advice. I think a few structures and caves etc might be worth doing just now.
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2 Royal Python, 2 Bearded Dragons