Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First of all i would like to thank all the frequent posters on this forum because my best friend Duke the bearded dragon would not be alive without you. About a year ago i decided i wanted a bearded dragon, so i had a friend at the local petstore(the same store that i now work at incidently) order me a nice looking male.
Well that same day an old lady dropped off a horribly sick looking beardie saying that she wanted to trade it for store credit. My friend and i were both aghast. this lizard had a most horrible case of MBD. his back legs were paralyzed, he had a big bump on his tail that looked like fuzed vertebra, and his jaw didn't close all the way at the sides, and his right wrist was weird looking. one of the worst parts about it was that he was stunningly handsome(besides the disfigurements). needless to say the old woman did not get any store credit for her abused pet(she was even calling it lois, not realizing it was a male). but she decided that she wanted to get rid of it anyway, so i just said, cancel my order, ill take this one.
at first it was very hard, duke was about 5 months old and he didn't like being handled at all, he didn't have the strength to chase crix(he just kinda pulled himself along with his frontlegs) and he would gulp in his water dish for long periods of time the first coupla days until i got him hydrated by spraying him daily.
to make a long story short, Duke has made a pretty full recovery, his jaw now works normal(sorta), and he runs around on all fours just fine now, he eats his veggies and pellets like a good BD and he has become a beautiful normal yellow phase dragon. that bump on his tail still hasn't gone away but it is noticeably smaller(i guess it prolly never will go all the way down). he is just the best friend anyone could ask for, when i get home i take him out of his cage and play with him and let him run on the living room floor and climb on the couch(with close supervision of course) he bobs his head at me every time i walk into the room and everytime i look at him i just feel good(cheesy i know)

anyway, on to the question part, Duke is probably nearing full grown now(although he appears to still be getting bigger) so i built him a 60"x20"x20" enclosure made out of wood and aluminum mesh for the sides and front and top. i'll post pics as soon as i get my hands on a working digital camera, its actually alot nicer than you might think, i had a professional carpenter help me on it(my grandpa )

i need to know about substrate, not for beardeds in general but for duke in particular. i love the look of playsand, but im afraid of impaction. the reason why this Q is for Duke in particular is that he never did get very acurrate with the old tongue because of his mouth deformity. im afraid he will get impacted when chasing crix, so should i go with the less attractive shelf liners? this little guy loves to dig so id like to have some sand in there

any suggestions would be great

look back a few posts to this
http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=352462,352462

I would not recomend screen or mesh sides. Aside from the nose rub possability it will not maintain the proper heat and humidity.
Link

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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

ok, so aluminum mesh can be a bad thing i know, and i figured someone would comment on that, but everyone i know houses their beardies in these cages, Duke has lived in my homemade cages his whole life and never had a nose rub problem but then there is the heat/humidity issue, all i can say is that ive got thermometers in there at both the cool side and the basking spots and they are reading 105F at the basking spots and 80F at the cool spots which seems suitable to me. ( i put the lamps and thermometers in their to test it before i decided on substrate)

if i have any problems ill be the first to admit defeat. and i'll tear it all down and make it glass sides, but i really think its a fine cage and i think Duke will be very happy in it

acually that is fiberglass mesh.

np
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

I see three routes you could take as an answer to your question.

1. Use the playsand as your substrate, and feed Duke in another enclosure like a rubbermaid tub. That will prevent him from getting a mouthfull of sand on a missed cricket strike. I think that in Duke's circumstance I would not take the chance of feeding his live prey in the enclosure since you say he is not a good aim. If you do choose to go with playsand and feed inside the enclosure, make sure watch closely, very closely.

2. Use shelf liner and make a sandbox on one end of the enclosure. This will greatly reduce the chance of sand ingestion and still give Duke a place for his favorite pastime activity, digging.

3. Use the shelf liner by itself. Not quite as nice looking as the sand, but definately the best looking of the non-particulate substrates.

I am personally using the shelf liner at the moment while trying to get my two guys free and clear of paristites, but do really like the look and feel of sand. Once they are free and clear of parasites I will most likely go back to sand as my substrate. Good luck with whatever you decide to choose.

i think what i'll probably do is line the cage with shelf liner and put him a rubbermaid sandbox in there with a ramp leading up to it.

in other words, option #2 from BigFil