Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Santa brought my beardies shelf liner for XMas. It is VERY nice and it is very easy to clean. I also like the nice blue color that santa brought my dragons. Hands down beats paper, and is much nicer than sand. You want naturalistic buy the brown stuff and go get some silk plants to make it look natural.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

What exactly is this shelfliner? Does someone have a photo of it? Or can you describe it more? Maybe we have it in Sweden as well, but I have to know what I shall look for..!

Where do you buy this stuff?
/Gunilla
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It is a foamy type of rubber. It is thin probably 2-4 mm (see taking into account that u are from europe) thick. Its use is to put down on your countertop or shelfs of your kitchen cabinet. I bought mine at walmart (don't know if they have them over there). The makers of the stuff I am using is Duck and the product name is Solid Easy Liner (www.duckproducts.com) hope this helps. It is very nice and a great find by Mattman. Santa forgot batteries so the digital camera isn't working.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

Stores I like better, its called "Soft Top Designer Pattern Liner", it comes in 5 foot x 1 foot rolls for $2 and the one we are using is called Green Marble

Gunilla is it the same think that is used to line kitchen cabinets, but it does not have an adhesive back, but since it is rubber, it stays down good on glass and plastics
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www.reptilerooms.com

Hm... thanks for telling me about the shelfliner! Hm... I don't think we have anything like that in Sweden... Haven't seen anything like it Maybe I shall start importing them..?
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Hi this is what it looks like. You can read about it on my web page. this kind in the pic is the kind you would get at the dollar store. I personally like the Duck brand www.duckproducts.com better cause it has a smoother surface and cleans nicer.

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Mystical Dragons webshots pictures
Mystical-Dragons Website

as i was afraid the dragons would be trying to eat the green leaves on that one!
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www.reptilerooms.com

NP
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Mystical Dragons webshots pictures
Mystical-Dragons Website

Shelfliner is typically sold in the kitchen area of any department store. Probably could find it in any store carrying or specalizing in kitchen and cabinet accessories. I recommend phoning around and asking if any local store carries shelf liner, you may be able to find it locally that way.

n/p
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Chris

1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.2.0 Green Basilisks
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.1.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
0.0.1 California Kingsnakes
2.5.1 Leopard Geckos

I sure hope that you are kidding about the pine shavings.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

We have successfully used pine shavings (Not the actual sawdust...the bigger stuff sold in stores) for over 5 years with all of our reptiles without any problems whatsoever.

What is better to use? Sand? Bare tank bottom? Paper towel?

Pine shavings are inexpensive, easy to maintain, soft for our reptile friends, if ingested it's much easier for them to digest and spit out than sand, and it's not as dusty as you think...I would say sand is dustier.

You can argue with me forever whether this is the right method or not but so far we have had absolutely no problems due to pine shavings. Cedar is not recommended because the particle content is toxic to reptiles...if you have any documentation or proof that pine shavings will cause illness or death in my reptiles...I will stop using it immediately but until then...

I'm sticking with the best substrate we've found...
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Chris

1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.2.0 Green Basilisks
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.1.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
0.0.1 California Kingsnakes
2.5.1 Leopard Geckos

I am glad you have had no problem. Why not go over to aspen though? Aspen has no tar or ordors. No documentation that pine is bad, better than cedar but think aspen is better.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

There is documentation about cedar and pine being bad for small animals but I don't recall coming across any on reptiles. There are some links below to what documentation I was able to find recarding pine and cedar for small animals.

http://www.trifl.org/cedar.shtml
http://www.ratsrule.com/cedar.html

If the pine shavings have been kiln-dried, i would think that it would be fine. You can use kiln dried pine on small rodents as well, because all the oils have been dried out of it, so it wont cause respiratory infections.
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~Melissa~
1.3 Leopard geckos (Guido, Oasis, Gypsy, Marli)
1.0 Bearded dragon (Pharoah)
1.0 Hog Island Boa (Michelangelo)
0.0.1 Crested Gecko (Picasso)
1.0 Ferret (da Vinci)
0.1 Chinchilla (Eevie)
1.0 Chinese Praying Mantis (Sid)

Melissas Menagerie

actually called sani chips (same thing). In short, she ingested them at the breeder, with the vets help she passed them but they damaged her internally and she died. It was horrible and i would NEVER reccomend them to anyone.
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reiko
photos

but it was ingesting the actual wood that killed her, she could not pass it and it damaged her internally. happy you have not had problems.
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reiko
photos

The marble light green shelf liner is nicer, makes it look like they have marble floors!

Was it Joel, Mattman or who that first mentioned this?

I really do like it too, a $2 roll does one 65 Gallon tank or two 30 gallon ones and this stuff is just toooooo easy to clean. Their enclosures area always clean and no smell.

Babies get shelf liner bottom covered, then 3/4 over that with paper towel, if they do have an accident it is so easy to clean

Juvies get Shelf liner, then one area about 1/3 is covered in reptile carpet and on the shelf liner there is a double fold of paper towel for their bathroom area (and they use it!)

Subadults and Adults get the same as the Juvie's, but they also get added a sandbox to play in (we have noticed that they like to sleep on the carpet area)

I will get some pictures when I remember to get camera batteries!
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www.reptilerooms.com

She only thinks she is a big dog really. Just look at her in person. She is a little tike.

Oh wait you must have meant the greyhound he thinks he is a lap dog. Dang I need to bring these two to a psychologist.

LOL!!! they are too cute you have to love them. The chihuahua has an infatuation with the mice. She loves to look at them. She will actually back up and sit down when allowed near their cages. She does that when she wants you to throw her toy. She thinks the mice should be her toys.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

the pets are very confused.

The 18 inch Water Dragon we have has to be right next to the 5 foot male iguana when outside next to his enclosure, she is madly in love with him and he also only lays right up along side her reptarium when she is out.

The girl Bearded Dragon's pool is right in front of our 5 foot female enclosure and she only climbs down off her basking spots to watch them swim and thinks its her TV I guess, as she just lounges there and watches them as long as they are out.

But neither Iguanas pays any attention to each other, the water dragon ignores the bearded dragons and then of course Sandy, the bearded dragon refuses to acknowledge there are any other dragons in the house, she looks away or closes her eyes when they are around, but she loves the female iguana who thinks she is too prickly to snuggle with!!

The only time Sandy has acknowledged another bearded dragon was to beat the nice beautiful irridescent male over the head with her chin or pounce on him when we were trying to bred her last spring!

Zookie the Big 1009 gram bearded dragon is afraid of mice, hamsters and roaches, he hides when he sees one and will not come out til they are gone

Oh and when my friends dog visits, he just sits and watches the russian dwarf hamsters in their habi-trails, but when they are out in their ball running around he runs and hides behind the Dragons enclosures... like they will protect him!

What a messed up household!
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www.reptilerooms.com

Glad you like it Grimdog. Should be a big help when you got all those hatchlings running around. All you have to do now is dump out the poop and wipe it with a damp paper towel, and whala a nice clean place for them to start again LOL No really though on another note your dragons will be much cleaner then if they were kept on a sand type substrate cause with that you know it never gets fully clean.
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Mystical Dragons webshots pictures
Mystical-Dragons Website

Yeah I agree fully Mattman, that is why I went over to paper. Changeable and fully cleanable. But it just doesn't stick to the tubs well so lots of stuff (worms, pellets, crickets, dragons, and feces to name a few) gets under the paper. The liner you have no such problem. Walk in clean up the poop. Spray a little listerene and wipe dry. Disinfected and still looking good. How often do you wash yours? Figure you would have the best idea on that.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

It will help if you leave a little overlap along the sides too so nothing gets under, and also any dry leaves or pellets on top can just be swept up with a little dust pan. I spot clean daily of course with something like this you have too. When I clean the poop up though I use a spray bottle with a mild aquarium cleaner in it. So if you spot clean with a mild soap or disinfectant you can keep them in for a while, but I usually change them out every 2 weeks or so just to soak them fully and to disinfect them fully, and put in new ones. I mark the backs with a permanent marker and know what color/shape goes to what tank so I never put the liner I use for quarantine into another tank even if it has been soaked and disinfected. I'm sure it's fine, but I do this as an added precaution. I have 4 sets for each tank color coded so they always get the liner for their tank. I just feel safe doing it like this, and I'm sure you'll use this idea too. It's just much safer just like you would not use a basking rock from one cage to the next.
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Mystical Dragons webshots pictures
Mystical-Dragons Website

then just soak them in hot soapy water when needed, but since we have a folded paper towel in with them and they learn as babies to go on the paper towel, there is rarely anything to clean but when they slightly miss the paper.

We have noticed they will stain the shelf liner with poo from greens a bit and the baby wipe usually cleans that off too.
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www.reptilerooms.com

Cheri try the Duck brand ones from wal-mart. The staining occurs on the cheap dollar store ones, but since I switched over fully to the Duck brand I have not had a stain yet. They are much smoother and clean much easier. They might be worth the extra 2 bucks.
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Mystical Dragons webshots pictures
Mystical-Dragons Website

NP
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Mystical Dragons webshots pictures
Mystical-Dragons Website

Neodesha cages as they need wider rolls, I just like the marble ones... looks nice and rich, really clean looking in their tanks
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www.reptilerooms.com

it makes it kinda warped in areas so th ecrix can get under now. I have to replace mine this weekend when I get paid..... At least it won't be heavy and take forever along with a trip to the car wash to get the cage washed out good now...

Robert Wood