Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have two empty tanks at home, a 10 gallon and a 55 gallon. if i buy a hatchling bearded dragon can i keep him in the 10 gallon, and when he grows out of it, move him right up to the 55 gallon? Also i plan on using paper towel in the 10 gallon with the hatchling, would this be okay? what are some good substrate choices for the 55 gallon??
thanks

everything is good your plan. a good adult beardie substrate would be playsand or comercial sands from Zoo-Med T-Rex ect.

thanks for the reply,
and one more question:
will sand pose as a risk of impaction to an adult beardie?

yes it can but rarely, if you want to prevent impaction you can keep sand out of the food and water dishes by having a mat or somthing under them, just do something to prevent sand from gettin into them. you can also use reptile cage carpet if you are really worried about impaction, but even those you have to or should check for loose threads so your beardie wont swallow a thread or get a digit stuck in a thread. hope this info helps!

sure does, thanks a lot!

the 10 gal to begin with is fine, then move up to 55 gal
adults do great on playsand or shelf liner

do NOT use reptile sand or calci sand as recommended in the last post. not only are they overpriced, the calci / repti sands are potentially very harmful to the dragon
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Ross

1.0 Bearded Dragon (Fuego)
2.1 Roommates (require more cleaning up after than the dragon)

really? how? mine is on it and she is fine. whats so bad about it?

I had indie on cage carpet for the first few months (due to her injuries...but now i think in retrospect that it was a good choice because they are tiny as babies) But after that i moved her onto calcisand and i havent ever had problems to this day. I have even heard of people keeping beardies on playground sand (eep..) for their entire lives...although it isnt recommended. I guess you have to use yer judgement.

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"i wasn't born with enough middle fingers"

1.0 ball python- Azazel
1.0 columbian boa- Brooklyn
1.0 JCP-Milton
1.0 red blood python-Hiss
1.0 peach phase thayeri-Sancho
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
1.1 hognose- Pricilla and Odd
0.1 russian tortoise- Manja
0.1.1 leos- Boji and Kodama
0.1 beardie- Indie
1.0 BTS- Griffon
0.1 Iggy- Sunny
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
1.4 ratties Rizzo, Bree, Blitzkreig, Raisin, and the Runt (R.I.P. Willard. )

where are your poor little beardies hands???!!!

Do a search on the web and talk to people and you will find that any calcium based sand product is one of the most despised products in the reptile trade. Many, reptiles have died due to impaction from these products. One point that I like to bring up about the stuff is that it is also very expensive compared to other substrates like playsand, shelf liner, and paper. Substrate discussions are a pretty heated topic, but in most cases, most agree that calcium sand is evil. Here is a good site to check out.

http://www.anapsid.org/substrates.html

Yes, you can keep the little guy in a 10 to start of with and move up to the 55 gallon through the sub-adult ages, but a standard 55 gallon tank is too small for a full grown adult. Reason being is the width of 55 gallon tanks is so thin and does not provide much floor space. Floor space is the key with BD's. A 55g tank would be like asking you to live in your hallway. A 40g breeder would be a better choice since it is wider but it would be the bare minimum and not the best choice. A 75g or up is the recommended size for a single adult BD.

Good luck and ask ?'s anytime you have them.

Poor indie is a poster child for keeping baby beardeds SEPARATE. I found her at the petshop that i was working at (large, corporate...wont mention name) with her feet chomped and her tail gone. She was the smallest (couldnt tell from this pic huh?) weakest, and most vuneralble in the batch. For weeks, batch upon batch of different sized beardeds were crammed into the encloser and i watched in horror as they ate eachother whole! She was the only one that i could save, i didnt have room for more and my boss tried to SELL the almost dead indie to me.....ANYWHO, 3 years later shes fine. She doesnt even know she should have feet. Her balance is a bit off, but she is about as happy as any other bearded out there!
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"i wasn't born with enough middle fingers"

1.0 ball python- Azazel
1.0 columbian boa- Brooklyn
1.0 JCP-Milton
1.0 red blood python-Hiss
1.0 peach phase thayeri-Sancho
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
1.1 hognose- Pricilla and Odd
0.1 russian tortoise- Manja
0.1.1 leos- Boji and Kodama
0.1 beardie- Indie
1.0 BTS- Griffon
0.1 Iggy- Sunny
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
1.4 ratties Rizzo, Bree, Blitzkreig, Raisin, and the Runt (R.I.P. Willard. )

Beardie substrates are highly debatable. It is your responsibility to do as much research and get as much advise as possible on the best ways to care for your lizard, because you're gonna hear a lot of different opinions and scenarios and you have to make informed decisions.

That said, here is my 2 cents....

I've seen plenty of people say they've had no problems with sands. Then again I see just as many who have had problems. I've seen a beardie at my vet's office that was impacted on calcium sand, it was not pretty. The way I see it there will always be people who haven't had problems yet and possibly never will. There is a first time for everything though, and many lizards have died from sand impactions. I figure, why take the chance at all? I keep my both of my lizards on non-adhesive shelf liner and paper towels in the places where they usually go to the bathroom. It may not look as fancy as a "natural looking" setup, but I don't care. It is a possible risk that we've all heard about one way or another, and I'd rather heed the warning now than be regretting it later.

If you do choose to use sand when your beardie grows up, there are still ways to greatly reduce the chance of impaction. They can easily get mouthfulls when hunting crickets or kicking sand in their food dish. If you take him outside of his cage to feed crickets, and put his veggie dish on a section of the cage that isn't on sand, like a raised platform, it helps a lot. I would still not recommend any calcium based sand, it neutralizes the stomach acids which slows digestion, and this is what can make it very dangerous. It's also ridiculously overpriced. Playsand bought at Home Depot or Wal-Mart that is washed and sifted I hear is much easier on the beardies' stomachs.

Personally, I still like paper towels and shelf-liner. Cheap, easy to clean, and 100% impaction free.
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

If you want to keep your beardies on that "stuff" made by "those companies" you go right ahead and do it.

With all of the horrible, horrible stuff that I have read over and over again about how so many animals have died horrible deaths using those substrates (calci-sand, etc) I can tell you I ABSOLUTELY will not force my beloved pet to live on it.

Sure it may look nice but what exactly is it you're looking for? A decent looking cage that houses your animal for 7-10 years or a great looking one (in your opinion) that houses it for 2 years then kills it. That's when you decide to never use the stuff again and feel terrible that YOU killed your pet. And yes, if you use it and your pet dies because of it, YOU killed it, not the substrate. I believe that because of all of the evidence and warnings people who have kept beardies for years say about those substrates.

"YOU" is not directed at any one individual, it is directed at all who read this post. It is also only my opinion but I would bet many other experienced (more than me) beardie keepers would agree with most of what I have posted.
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Rob Talkington

guess i will change to playsand.