Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My beardie is prolly about 9 and a half to 10 inches now, is that an ok size to put him on sand? I let him eat on it once and he uses his tounge to get the crix so he didnt take a mouthfull. I did shelfliner for a while, but w/ sand all u have to do is scoop the poop, shelf liner u have to wipe and clean, but thats just my opinion.

this is one of the biggest question with beardies, i have mine in calci sand and hes a bit smaller than urs. but what type of sand are you going to use

I'm using sterelized and sifted playsand

thats fine to start using now

please get your beardie off the calci sand without delay. not only is it way more hazardous than normal play sand (beardies see it as a source of calcium an ingest it deliberately leading to impaction), but your dragon sounds too small to be on particualte substrate anyway.

if you choose to use sand as a substrate, only sifted playsand can be used. you should also wait unitl your beardie is an established size (around 12" before introducing the sand. if your dragon is the kind who goes aroudn tasting everything, or is a messy eater then sand is not for you.

but please, get rid of the calci-sand ASAP - its dangerous and hideously overpriced. similarly, do not bark, corn or walnut shell.
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Ross

0.1 Bearded Dragon (Fuego, spent the last 10 months thinking she was a he!)
2.1 Roommates (require more cleaning up after than the dragon)

My dragon is a year now...and when she was a baby i had her on shelf liner...now she is on cali sand...and is VERY regular. She also eats mainly from her food bowl and hardly ever has a chance to consume the sand. You have to choose what works well for you. Even though everyone says dont use cali sand....I do and it works out perfectly. If you do go with any sand substrate...make sure to monitor your dragon closly for atleast a couple months, making sure that the change isn't hurting your dragon. Good luck!

Wait a while longer. I've seen dragons bigger than yours get impacted. The thing to keep in mind is that the smaller the lizard is, the more at risk he is. So why not wait until he's even bigger? The longer you wait, the better off he'll be.

Also, you may think it's harder to wipe than to scoop, but at least with wiping you can see that you're getting all the fecal matter out. With scooping, if you're using a fish net or something like that, a lot of the sand that touches the fecal matter can still fall through and stay in your tank. In my opinion it's more sanitary to use the shelf-liner.

Just my 2 cents.
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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 have used Wheat Bran for a my adult and not had any problems with impaction. He has been on it since he was about 14". (I don't know if you can use it if they are smaller) It is dusty over time but you can "SCOOP" out (not sift) the fecal matter and not worry about contamination.

It is very cheap! (about $7-8 for 50 lbs: because it is fluffy, you only need about 10-20 lbs for a 55 gallon)
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Hangin with the Herps
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