Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello forum members i just switched to "washed play sand" and was wondering why it is raved by some and forbiden by others? Please post what your using and why!
Thanks Jay

Because it can be completely removed everyday and sanitized where needed to clean underneath. No chance of impaction and we can place the greens directly on the paper eliminating the need for food bowls and thus elimating cleaning time which is important in large collections. It also eliminates yet another place bacteria can harbor due to less cleaning of "dirty" bowls.

brandon
-----
Dragons by Nature

Thanks but I went to the Rep show here in Sacramento and almost everyone there said to use play sand even the guys at LLL who I bought them from said to use it. I just want the best for my BD's. I get the feeling its about personal prefrence when it comes to substrate!
Jay

Your right.. many things are personal opinion.. many breeders do things quite differently and what works for one won't necessarily work for another. Some of the best breeders in the country use sand and report no problems. We choose not to use it and will not go back to it.

We've used everything out there for a substrate at one time or another. The biggest problem I have with sand is it's very difficult to keep clean. If you only have one dragon and can spend the time to completely change the sand a couple of times a month you'd be much better off. With a collection of our size it would be impossible to do that.

Good luck with your dragon.
brandon
-----
Dragons by Nature

In talking with another "serious" dragon breeder we joked about how upset so many on the KS forum would be with the number of trees killed to keep dragons clean using paper substrates. LOL.

With baby dragons which poop frequently and eat smaller prey we use paper towels. Even with bargain hunting this becomes a major expense during dragon season.

On larger dragons which take bigger dumps and also eat large prey (less chance of picking up stray sand) we use either playsand or "commercial" natural desert sand (not a calicium based substrate).

On a personal note. I've really started looking at housing my reptiles (chameleons, dragons, snakes, etc) in more naturalistic displays that encourage natural (or as close to nature as I can get) interaction with their environment (eating, climbing, hiding etc) type of enclosures.

Taking all the above into consideration decide on the best substrate for you reptile considering the time and financial criteria you have to deal with.
Scales - Premium Exotic Reptiles

LOL.. thanks for the plug there guys... all kidding aside, yea we keep them on paper towels as well as hatchlings. The expense does add up it's amazing.

brandon
-----
Dragons by Nature

I with you both....papertowels on the hatchlings, juvies.....I use newspaper and some shelf liner(with a paper towel section the ones that are paper towel trained)in my adult tanks....the clean up is easier and faster, no chances of impaction....

I've tried wheat bran and originally used play sand as well, but as my colony grew it became to labor intensive....especailly with partical substrates as like Brandon said then you have bowls to clean daily as well.

I will say I used sand with no problems, but then I changed the whole tank twice per month and scooped daily, only using with my sub-adults and adults.
-----
Tracey
Tracey's Beardies
www.beardiecrazy.com
"Whining is not only graceless, but can be dangerous.
It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood" ~Maya Angelou

hi, i use indoor/outdoor carpet with my beardy. i like it because its real easy to wash and you can pick up its poop with just some tiolet paper which makes the encloser a lot more appealing. i also like it because its so cheap and you can get it in a variety of colors and styles. It has lots of advantages.

I use indoor/outdoor carpet & paper towels, it's not worth the risk of impaction or prolapse for me to use loose substraint.

the sand sticks to the dragons after soaking, they always taste it and I have to worry. It never fails they dig around thier food bowl and get sand all over the food and it has to be replaced. but it is easy to clean up the poop with a litterpan thingy.But I find they poop on thier basking logs so i still have to clean everything anyway. It looks nicer and they seem to love digging around in it, so I think I will just put a small pan of sand on one side for them to dig in and leave the rest pt..Another problem I run into with sand is feeding crickets I used to drop two in at a time for them to eat but cant becasue of the sand so now I have to take them out and put them in a rubbermaid to feed crickets...Anyway that is my experience so far...hth
-----
.........
2.0 Ball Pythons
1.0 Western Hognose
0.1 Cornsnake
0.2 Bearded dragons
1.1 leos
0.1 Rosehair T.
2.0 dogs
1.0 cat
0.1 ferret
1.3.? rats

The Vet recommended Carefresh for my adult BD. I think I'm going to switch to Shelf liner as it seems to work for alot of people here.
-----
0.1 Bearded Dragon