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has anyone tried shelf liner on in a vision cage? the floor is not flat...

beardiedragon Jan 28, 2004 04:17 PM

I have not tried the shelf liner route but I am almost fed up enough with the sand to give it a shot. I go around a couple times a day with a shop vac sucking up poop and sand. with nearly 100 cages it's a big cleaning job.

a few ???
1)How long does it take to clean shelf liner compared to sand?
2)What about the Beardies that LOVE to dig. Does that take anything away from them?
3)What about heat and insulation? The sand holds a lot of heat and helps insulate the enclosure.
4)Don't they occasionally walk through the poop and drag it all over making a bigger mess.
5) can they lift up parts of it allowing crix or worms to get underneath?
6) anyone tried it with snakes?
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

Replies (2)

Mattman Jan 28, 2004 04:54 PM

With 100 cages I don't think shelf liner would be a good choice for you unless you devote much time to your dragons each day, and make a few rounds a day spot cleaning. Just in the fact that with shelf liner if your not there to spot clean a few times a day you will come home to dirty tanks from the dragons running through the poop it happens. Now I have 11 cages, and many more very soon. I work from home a lot, and there is nothing better then shelf liner for me, and for my situation. I can keep them spotless all the time, and the dragons are safe. I know others as well with a bit larger collections who use it, and like it as well. The go to work and still choose to use it. I don't think it is for everyone especially people with very large collections. I can see how a particale substrate might be easier, but a pain in the a$$ as well. Not many people can devote that much time to 100 cages daily. I don't know your situation though this may be the best for you. Give it a try on a few rows of cages, and see how it works out. The bottoms not being flat will be a problem cause one of the reason I started using them was because the bugs would get under the carpets and the liner lais perfectly flat, and I wanted a safer, cleaner, sanitary floor covering. They work great for flat bottom tanks like glass and melamine.

1) I clean with a spray bottle and mild cleanser as a spot cleaner. I pick up the poop spray the area with the spray bottle and clean the spot. Once a week or every two weeks they all come out to be disinfected and new ones get put in.

2) For the beardies that love to dig many people have made digging boxes for them that allow them to dig like that.

3) This will not hold heat as well as sand it's as easy as that. A darker color could hold heat a bit longer but nowhere near how 2 inches of sand would.

4) Yes this is why it's not for everyone. If you see your dragon before work to feed them ome home 10 hours later. I'm sure there will be times when this will happen. Take out the liner put in a fresh one and give that dragon a bath the stinker

5) This is one of the reasons I went for shelf liner cause they lay nice and flat and if you leave a bit of an overlap no bugs hide out,and come out at night to bite on the dragons.

6) I have a few corn snakes, but never would take away their burrowing substrate. I don't think they would take to it to well.

Daily cleaning I spot clean with the spray bottle and mild soap. if they go nuts in their salads and pellets I break out the handy dust buster or the dust pan. Every week to two weeks I take them out for a soak disinfecting and hang them to dry,
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Mystical Dragons webshots pictures
Mystical-Dragons Website

CheriS Jan 29, 2004 08:27 PM

and it works well in them, I also use a double or folded paper towels, which we train them to use as babies so rare is the time they make a mess on the shelfliner itself. I can not image the mess it would be dealing with all sand in them! He will get a snad box added to the enclosure when he is 9 months old.

Titan is his enclosure

You can just barely see his paper towel in his poo area in the lower right hand side

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www.reptilerooms.com

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