Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How deep should sand be if i am using a heating strip underneath the aquarium. I am housing Bearded Dragons.

Thanks,
Miller
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Miller
0.1 Florida King
1.0 Chow Chow
0.2 Cats

I'm not sure how deep, but be careful with that sand. Sand is actually a terrible substrate for bearded dragons (most lizards in fact). They can't walk easily on it since they come from an area with hardened packed down dirt, the end up ingesting it since it sticks so well to their tongues during their daily tongue tasting rituals, and even more so if you are feeding them in the cage. This can and has led to impactions that can kill your lizard. Captive bearded dragons for some reason are prone to intestinal impactions, and therefore it's better to try to use a different substrate (ask on the bearded dragon forum). But, you can use sand with success. The most important thing is to only feed them crickets in a seperate feeding container, and if they are dragging greens through the sand, put something (like paper towels or something) around the food bowl so the dragon isn't getting mouthfuls of sand. i still don't think I'll go back to sand though. It sticks to everything, it's dusty, it's not natural to a bearded dragon, and it can be very dangerous.

Thanks for the reply. I have always heard/thought sand was not a very good substrate. However, the pet store guy (seemed very knowledgable)said it was good and he used it. Also, people in that forum (Bearded Dragon Forum) claim to use it. I will post a message specifically asking for a better medium.

Thanks again,
Miller
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Miller
0.1 Florida King
1.0 Chow Chow
0.2 Cats