Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My husband and I are considering buying a bearded dragon at the show in Orlando this weekend. Would tile be a suitable substrate for a beardie? I recently switched my leopard geckos from sand to tile and they seem to be doing just fine. Thanks for the help!

While tile will work, it is not always recommended because beardies have a hard time getting traction on it. If you would like a substrate that is just like a large piece of soemthing, i would try non adhesive shelf liner, having great traction, easy cleaning, and looking simple and good with no mess.
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David - Kevin
--KDRKreatures--

3.3 Bearded dragons (Rocco,Chong,Big Bob,Artemis,Cheech, Anna Nicole)
1.3 Eastern Box Turtles (Snappy, Mercuria, Gizmo, Galapaga)
1.0 Ball Python (Carson)
0.0.1 Alligator Snapping Turtle (Unnamed)

0.1 Timneh African Grey (Roxy)

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I've had my beardie on tile for about 6 months now, and she's loved it.

I personally have loved it because it's made cleaning up much easier - because when a beardie has to go - my god can they go! Also, Lazlo has a tendancy of walking through her food and getting it everywhere. I tried different substrates before - bark, all towels, sand - and nothing worked. So, at least for me, tile has been great.

I do, however, have her hide over a washcloth - that seperates the heated tile from her skin - so she doesn't get any direct heat from underneath. Also, I took to placing a hand towel, folded up in her cage - it makes a little pillow of sorts. It's hard to get her to move from that.

I would recommend tile - especially if you are already using it with your geckos and have had good experience with it. My geckos also love the tile....

- D
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2.0 Dogs (Dante the 110 lb. drooling lab & Amos the mutt)
0.1 Bearded Dragon (Lazlo - the pickiest lizard every met)
1.4 Leopard Geckos (Randall, Dagny, Kira, Dominique and Ayn)
1.0 Husband (the most obnoxious and yet rewarding pet of all!)
dacia2002@yahoo.com

having a bearded dragon on a hard surface can cause them to have foot problems when they are older. I would never recomend a hard surface. Look at it from the beardies perspective. have you ever tried standing barefoot on a hard surface for a long period of time? your feet get sore after a while.
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sincerely,
Jonathan D. de Kluyver
JDDK Reptiles quality reptiles and amphibians
www.jddkreptiles.com

But they don't spend their entire lives on the floor of the enclosure. I don't know about your beardies, but mine spend about 90% of their days up on a basking rock or branch, which are hard surfaces as well but I don't see anyone arguing against those being bad for their feet.

Plus if that person has the cloth in the hide, that's even less time spent directly on the tile.
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Amanda
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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 mean like hard tile you have on your kitchen floor then NO!!!! and i suggest you get your gecko back on sand.
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sincerely,
Jonathan D. de Kluyver
JDDK Reptiles quality reptiles and amphibians
www.jddkreptiles.com

And why not? As long as it doesn't get too hot it's perfectly safe.
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Amanda
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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)

I used ceramic tile in cages I just built for my dragons. I like it. It holds heat well, cleans up nicely, is relatively cheap.
I use that on wood cages.
I use shelf liner in glass tanks. I don't think I would want to do tile in a glass tank at risk of cracking it. I also used shelf liner on my old wood cages. I just switched to tiles on my new ones and so far so good. However, I would only do it on certain types of cages.
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3.0.0 Bearded Dragons Woodrow, Dexter, Tehko (My first beardie Griffin who turned me crazy, and Erik my Rankins, who will remain a midget- deceased)
1.0.0 Cat- the regular variety (Dominic- fat cat)
0.1.0 Dog- Lab mix(Betty- escape artist extraordinaire)
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider (Franklin)

Thank you all so much for your input. My husband and I did buy 2 beardies. They are both 2 months old. Both are doing fine on the tile. They spend the vast majority of the time on their basking logs. The tile does not get too hot. They don't lose traction on it. I will be putting cloth under their hidey holes. We gave them their first baths and that was hysterical!! These guys are so much fun to watch! Thank you all again.